“Apple is working on a smaller iPad and plans to increase the screen size of the next iPhone to 4in, according to a report,” Ben Camm-Jones reports for IDG News Service.
“An ‘industry insider’ who spoke to the Korea Times made reference to an ‘iPad mini’ and the iPhone 5 after approaching the newspaper with details of a new deal between Apple and LG Display concerning displays for future iOS devices,” Camm-Jones reports. “A meeting between Apple and LG Display is reportedly due to take place in the next few days and one of the topics of conversation will be Apple’s plans to introduce a 7.35in tablet.”
“‘Next year’s iPhone to feature a 4-inch display by LG Display, half an inch larger than the 3.5-inch display and retina display resolution will remain unchanged because LCD is currently being regarded as the right solution to offer value with better cost-cuts,’ the unnamed executive reportedly told the Korea Times,” Camm-Jones reports.
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Bull.
This is why I hate rumors. Continues nonsense and offers no facts.
Not necessarily. It’s been discussed before that Apple was considering a smaller tablet (a market for those that can’t a afford a $500 tablet) and a larger screened iPhone (which patents have already appeared). However I do agree that we won’t know for sure untill spy shots will appear of hardware. I’ll just wait with my fingers crossed. I would really like to have a larger screened iPhone (but not too big). I think 4.5″ is the limit for me.
It’s also been discussed before that Apple would release 2 iPhones simultaneously and that we’d already have 4G service, but it all proved to be just a discussion. A rumor……nothing more. Let’s no put Apple in a vise before they even make any announcements.
All previous “discussions” concerning bigger iPhone and smaller tablet are strictly rumor. As Ballmer would say, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor. Nuff said.
Will buy both.
But this is just another nonsense rumour.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least. 3.5″ was quite large when the iPhone was introduced back in 2007 but since then manufacturing advancements have brought the cost of glass and glass coatings of larger screens down to affordable levels. Going 4″ would be the very least I can expect from the iPhone 5.
As for the iPod touch, 7″ seems to be a nice boost in screen size that’ll make it interesting as a gaming machine for people not interested in a 2 year contract for the iPhone yet only want a basic machine for listening to music and surfing the net. $249 would be very nice as a pick up for a mini tablet.
$249 for a 7″ tablet from Apple is a decent price. Especially if they decide to make 3G/4G versions starting at roughly $300 for a 16GB. Yet again this is all hearsay.
Yes, I want to hold a giant brick next to my head to speak to people.
No matter how marketing people try to convince you, the perfect size design for a handheld device isn’t changing. Peoples hands are not suddenly getting larger.
But a 4″ display does not necessarily mean a size increase. It might be possible to fit it in the current 4S form factor. If not, then only a very small increase in width would be required. I posted the numbers before. It is possible.
Why not just stop calling these rumors and label them what they are… Retard wishlists.
IWOOT.
…of each please.
Unless Apple decides to go completely against what Steve Jobs stated (which could happen but isn’t likely), Apple will never introduce a 7″ iPad. They may explore the possibility but I don’t think we will see it happen.
In October 2010, Steve stated that “the reason we [won’t] make a 7-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit that price point, it’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software.” During the same call he also noted that because of the diagonal screen size, a 7″ tablet is only 45% the size of a 10″ tablet – less than half.
You have to remember that Apple doesn’t respond to what consumers say they want. Apple creates a product and then everybody wants it. In 2007 Steve said “There is an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. ‘I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.’ And we’ve always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will. ”
Apple doesn’t care about attracting a price point. They have never tried to compete on price. Otherwise we would be buying $799 iMacs and $599 MacBooks. Apple prices their products based on what they believe the value is and people spend the money.
A 7-inch eReader is not a tablet. Jobs did NOT say he’d never make 7-inch iPod Touch, which would be a smarter play by Apple. The Touch is the Apple device that the Kindle really competes against anyway, not the iPad.
Besides, Apple needs a competing eReader AND a correctly-sized device that can be installed as a Double-DIN (180x100mm) dashboard head unit in vehicles. I belive that means Apple will produce a 6.5-inch iPod Touch (the dimension needed for car units)..
Steve also said: “We’re not working on a phone” and “there are no books in iTunes coz nobody reads books anymore”. Steve said that 7″ was too small for a tablet. I agree but a 7″ iPod Touch would not be a tablet – it would be an entertainment device primarily for eBooks and games, just like the current iPod Touch is not a tablet. There is a difference.
A bigger Touch, maybe.. but I don’t believe in rumors, especially nowadays- not only based on what we read, but also on what we don’t hear about.
More fuel for the analysts to claim the iPhone 5 is a failure when it is introduced because it didn’t live up to the hype of a 4″ display.
What was it again that Steve Jobs said about a 7″ tablet?
So I guess Apple will include sandpaper to whittle down the size of the fingers….as Jobs once said.
Oh wow
If this is true…
I can see 7″ device as a dedicated remote for an apple tv.
Picture this:
An iOS powered remote that lets you swipe through your apple tv interface and pull up whatever content you want. Want to watch something else? Tap the Siri microphone on the device, your tv mutes a la your music on an iPhone when you get a phone call, say “I’d rather watch How I Met Your Mother” and apple tv brings up your choices. Use the bad to swipe around. Of course it could have a dock to stay charged and even allow networks or advertisers to push ads or other content related trivia/games/social features to the pad for you to interact with without interrupting your show.
So… what would the original be called? Maxi-iPad?
😉
OMG, do we have to start this crap all over again?!?
I say “maybe” to a larger iPhone, but I think it would have less pixel density so as to keep the same resolution (no fragmentation there to worry about).
I say “no” to a smaller iPad. The 7-inches are awful for a reason . . . no appreciably better experience than an iPhone/touch and much worse than an iPad.
Just make the iPod touch 5″.
Then it would lose all pocket ability. Anything bigger than 4″ needs to be created as an additional device.
People the iPhone 4s was just released barely a month ago are we really going to start another year full of rumors just to be disappointed when they announce there new products just let it be and what ever apple makes next everyone will still buy no matter the screen size or the look of the device just wait and see don’t buy into all this bs rumors and hear says
Steve Jobs stated that the different screen sizes would cause fragmentation. Just look at Android and their multitude of screen sizes. Not all games or apps “scale” to the different screen sizes.
I have to agree with Steve on sticking to certain sizes for long periods to keep the longevity of apps and consumer satisfaction and less fragmentation.
Why would Apple introduce two additional devices that would cripple the existing App ecosystem? Items that are too big for a pocket, but hardly justify festooning the user with an an additional strap or bag? It makes no sense.
I might believe the next iPhone will have a 4-inch screen. But personally, I don’t think it will happen until Apple gives iOS full resolution independence. When that happens, there will be no platform “fragmentation” because screen size and resolution won’t really matter. The user can smoothly and intuitively adjust the size/spacing of GUI elements (such as icons and text) to suit personal preferences.
I think it will happen NOT with the next iOS release, but the one after (in 2013). I also think that major iOS release will coincide with the release of multiple screen size choices for iPad, at 12-inch (1600×1200) and 8-inch (1024×768). Again, full resolution independence will make the “fragmentation” issue irrelevant.
The next iPad, if it’s to be released in early 2012, is going to have the same screen as the current iPad. Any screen component that is aimed at such an iPad would already be in production RIGHT NOW, by the tens of millions. We would have seen leaked (typically fuzzy) photos of the actual part by now, if it’s significantly different.
Give up on the 7 inch iPad already. It’s not going to happen. IMO, they’re just floating a rumor to freeze sales.
Give Apple fanboys, There is already a killer 7″ color multi touch in Amazon’s new FIRE which runs the famous leader OS in mobile, Android.
How is Apple going to beat the $200 price with any iPad?
Look, every day there is a free App that normally costs a bunch of money in the Amazon Android marketplace.
It is a win win situation for all that do the smart thing and switch to Android to avoid the Apple tax.
Based on reviews of Kindle Fire, it sort of beat itself. By being “sluggish, unresponsive, uninspired, clunky, restrictive…” etc.
> Amazon Android marketplace…
Yes, apparently, it can’t even access the “normal” Android Marketplace, just Amazon’s App Store. And you have to buy ebooks, videos, and other digital content from Amazon too. As “Android,” Amazon customized it beyond recognition (I suppose that might be a positive).
I thought Kindle Fire might be the one non-iPad that had a chance of success. I don’t think so anymore… After an initial round of decent sales (because of low price and decent marketing), it will probably fade away.
Don’t let the handpicked reviews of the Apple fanboy community fool you, Ken. The Kindle Fire is a formidable device that will stand as the only non-iPad tablet to sell in the tens of millions. It is not to be overlooked. It will not fade away. And Amazon will eventually follow it up with a 10″ model that directly competes with the iPad.
Yeah, maybe, since the reviewers are people who have a lot of experience with iPad and other more-costly better-featured tablets. People who ONLY have experience with Kindle Fire may find it acceptable for $200. And its “Amazon-only” restrictiveness and other limitations will be stand out as much because they have no basis for comparison.
But if it really is sluggish, unresponsive, and glitchy in an absolute (NOT comparative) sense, then sales will drop. People will “buy and return.” Amazon making it better the second time around will not help, because the damage will be done, and Apple will keep perfecting iPad (and increasing its installed base at an exponential rate).
Maybe the 7″ screen is for a new remote for the iTV???
You could create rich interfaces to control all your devices without having to have a million buttons crowded together.
And – you could use it the execute voice commands with Siri.
Just an idea.
Hey brothers, look at this.
Today the Amazon Fire shipped and Apple’s stock tanked.
Yes it dropped to close below $379 and is still falling after hours.
The day of the iPad is over. The new king is the Amazon Fire and its big bother with the killer 10″ screen which will finish the iPad off.
Wake me when Apple passes $200 going down.