“Is Apple working on a bigger-screen iPad to follow the iPad Air, and when is the next iPad coming out? Will the bigger iPad, whether it’s called iPad Pro, iPad 6, iPad 2014 or simply new iPad, feature a larger screen – or will it even be a touchscreen MacBook/iPad hybrid?” Ashleigh Allsopp asks for Macworld UK.
“Ming-Chi Kuo, a KGI Securities analyst with a highly-respected track record when it comes to Apple predictions, has published a report claiming that, on the tablet front, we’ll see only a new iPad Air this year, with the iPad Pro (and an update to the iPad mini) following in 2015,” Allsopp reports. “Yet previous reports suggested that Apple is working on two new 12.9in iPads for a 2014 launch. The first – a 2K model – is expected in April, while the rumoured 4K models are forecast for an October 2014 release. In January 2014, Evercore Partners analyst Patrick Wang predicted that a 12in MacBook/iPad hybrid would launch in the autumn of 2014.”
“Apple CEO Tim Cook has famously dismissed the idea of a MacBook/iPad hybrid. During a financial earnings conference call in April 2012, Cook said that consumers simply won’t be interested in buying or using a machine that is a hybrid of a laptop and a tablet,” Allsopp reports. “But what if, in the two years since Cook dismissed the idea, Apple has come up with a way to avoid tradeoffs and create something that’s as powerful as a MacBook but as portable and touch-based as an iPad?”
Much more, including concept imagery and videos, in the full article here.