“Production has started on the high-resolution displays destined for the next-generation iPad, while Apple eyes a 7.85-inch iPad further down the road, an analyst told CNET today,” Brooke Crothers reports for CNET.
“‘It’s happening–QXGA, 2048×1536. Panel production has started [for the next-generation iPad]. There’s three suppliers,’ Richard Shim, an analyst at DisplaySearch, said in an interview today,” Crothers reports. “Shim confirmed other reports that cite three companies, Samsung, Sharp, and LGD.”
Crothers reports, “The 2048×1536 screen will be the centerpiece the of next-generation iPad, or so-called iPad 3. That resolution is a quantum leap over iPad 2 which uses a more pedestrian 1024-by-768 display. Apple is also expressing interest in making a mini-iPad based on a 7.85-inch screen, according to Shim. That would come later in 2012, possibly in the second half sometime, he said. ‘If there’s demand there. There’s no reason they wouldn’t build a 7.85-inch iPad,’ Shim said.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
The small iPad is BS
1
Seems a bit redundant, especially if they do up the screen size in the iPhone and Touch.
no more jaggies!
I would rather have a smaller iPad (in addition to the current size) than a bigger iPhone.
I can’t see Apple selling two sizes of phone due as new models and I think the majority of people are happy with a smaller phone the majority of the time.
If the iPad 3 is double the resolution, I think it would be easier on developers to make a smaller iPad because they could use the same resolution as the current one, which when used on a smaller device would increase the overall quality of the display. Making a bigger iPhone would result in either a lower pixel density, or an odd sized resolution, as opposed to pixel doubling (or halving depending on how you look at it).
Steve’s comment regarding a file to shave down the user’s fingers springs to mind. I don’t see how we can expect an iPad cut in half with the same resolution to be usable.
Perhaps the 8″ iPad could be marketed as an iPod Touch Maxi instead of as an iPad Mini. Might fit best in the Economy Gamer & Book markets rather than in all the other markets the iPad 3 will reach. I’m more interested in a 128GB iPod Touch with 3.5 to 4 inch retina & 8MP 1080p HD Camera than an 8 inch iPad. Is the Kindle Fire creating an 7 to 8 inch market Steve didn’t anticipate or is the iPad only a premium size? And how lame is only 6GB of media space in a Fire? I’m not in favor of the 16 by 9 form factor either. Fire must be confusing consumers. It’s confusing me as to why anyone would want a Fire other than it’s lowballing the market thanks to the loss leadership of that Amazon guy.
@Future, good idea. No many men would want to buy a “Maxi Pad”.
well, if the iPhone is usable…
something about double the size should be even more usable… We don’t shave our fingers for the iPhone.
I can see point of sale devices and car navigation as a great market for a 7″ iPad. Also as museum guides, for elementary schools, music and video would also benefit…It would be less awkward shooting video or plugging a guitar/mic into a more portable device. The 10″ form factor is great but there are many instances where 7″ would be more appropriate or beneficial…
It depends on the usage. Arguably, one would have to do the same thing to use an iPhone as compared to the iPad and yet they sell like hotcakes, Is it much easier to read an e-book on an iPad? Hell yes. Do people still use iPhones to buy and read e-books? Hell yes. That said, I’d trust Apple to make that size of an iPad work to its advantage. e.g., Not just with the same functionality but with other uses highlighted and maximized. Yes, you could read books and magazines on it in the same way you can with an iPhone, but it’s more likely that its form factor will be targeted for new and different uses that are not the target of the iPad.
I think they can squeeze 4″ into almost the same size phone and eat a small drop in the retina ppi spec without hurting the quality of the perceptible resolution while keeping the current app specs. I also think the 4″ iPhone needs an even better 10 MP HD camera to maintain differentiation from the 4S which is already almost perfect. For me, the 64GB option was huge. I wonder how popular that model is?
Not double — four times.
iPad Nano?
IWOOT.
What? “There’s no reason they wouldn’t build a 7.85-inch iPad”. Steve Jobs talked about this. Remember? Also, bad PR.
Try a better angle on this. It should be a FAT iPod touch NOT a mini iPad. Change the topic. It is an UPGRADE of the already $199 price competitive iPod touch NOT a down grade of a superior iPad product line!
Yes. That’s right. Nothing less than today’s iPad size should be marketed as an iPad. Maxi Touch is the way to sell 8″ devices. + $100 over today’s Touch prices plus 128GB at the top. So 8″ iPod Touch 8GB for $299, 16GB for $399, 32GB for $499, 64GB for $599 and 128GB for $699. Wi-Fi only. Would that work? I’m not sure. This looks like a race to the bottom where low prices eat profits. I don’t like it. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the new Cook, Schiller, Ive Brain Trust work it out. It’s gotta be useful & profitable or it’s Shit as Steve would say. Johnny Ive will have to see the usefulness while Phil will need to assess the Market as to whether or not this is perhaps a Phantom Market Menace created by Bezos’ mail order empire rather than a real Market.
Remember when Steve said no video on the iPod?
OK, where are all the fanboys??? I don’t see any comments about refusing to buy an iPad with a Samsung screen.
If Apple still buys from Samsung then why not you?
You realize that that’s ridiculous, right? What company Apple gets to make their screens is of no consequence. Apple could change tomorrow to Taiwanese screens and you as a consumer have almost no control over that… so there’s no point fretting over it.
Remember, that when you buy a product from a company, you also serve as an advertiser of that product. Any boycott of Samsung products in the context of this forum is obviously about boycotting the brand, not the physical internals the company makes.
‘Cuz there’s only one chance in three, or some such, depending on production, that the screen will be a Samsung.
Samsung’s copying is pathetic, but I have two of their big monitors — no Cinema Displays, but decent and cheap — and a 50-inch plasma that is quite good. (Panasonic next time…) I helped my parents buy a fridge, a Samsung they really like, and I just recommended it to a friend. You are right — Apple is obviously content to have the company as a supplier, at least for now. Just don’t make the mistake of buying their iPhone and iPad wannabes.
What is this dumb comment attributed to Steve Jobs about needing to shave your fingers down? Those fat fingers seem to work for thousands of iPod and iPhone owners.
I think you meant Millions. I think Steve was talking about iPad apps that might not downsize well. Which is all the more reason to let iPod Touch & iPhone only apps auto upscale to the 8″ Maxi Touch plus the iPad only apps downscale IF the developer and Apple deem them usable in the smaller form factor.
The more I think about it, this whole 8″ “Market” idea is looking more and more to me like a Phantom Menace not worth getting into. Manufacturing capacity could be unnecessarily canabalized by this size that may not be worth getting into.
After reading all of the above, I’m thinking the 8″ tablet is not worth pursuing by Apple. Let iPhone & iPod Touch go to 4 inches while iPads continue getting better at 10. I would veto 8″ tablets from Apple if I were them. There’s really no value added to having that size and it may confuse the market more than it’s worth getting into. The statement that “there’s an 8 inch Market” is probably not true except for Amazon media consumers which are not most of Apple’s customers anyway.
I agree that the small iPad is BS. A device with a 7.5-inch screen is too large to fit into a standard, Double-DIN automotive dashboard. Only a moron would overlook that looming market. Again, we won’t see a smaller iPad. We’ll see a larger iPod Touch option that supplements the existing Touch models.
I’m an apple shareholder and longterm owner. RE: 7″ ipad – do most of you realize what kind of idiots you sound like disparaging the 7″ ipad? Can’t do because,because,because…Yet you all use the teeny tiny iPhone screen every day and not a peep about it being too small! Geez – the brain is there to think, not just hold your hair.