Samsung Securities says 7" 'iPad mini' coming in Q3 2012, Apple investigating flexible panels - Page 6

Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz

In my opinion, Tim would be best off if he never asks himself "What would Steve have done?"

Originally Posted by SuperTomcat

If the info from Nomura Research is true, the flexible AMOLED could be the answer for a bezel-less Galaxy S III (or the rumored new Galaxy B series).
That could be one of the uses of that tech.

Originally Posted by addabox

The Touch is in that list in name only, as it is an iOS device and shares the iPhone's screen size.

Originally Posted by addabox

Apple didn't proliferate the iPod lineup just to be doing it, they shrunk it as technology permitted. For a single purpose device with limited user interaction this makes sense. For a laptop replacement it does not.

Originally Posted by myapplelove

Get off your hi horse for a moment there and understand that apple are in the market to both compete with other tech companies and make their customers happy.

I wonder what you ll be saying in a few months when that 7-8" hits the market...

Originally Posted by digitalclips

I want a larger iPad that can roll up!

Originally Posted by RPT

I don't have a clue, but I never said that the 7" was for you, however it would be pretty good for me, and I believe a lot of others, including some people who make go with Android.

Originally Posted by wizard69

Imagine you make your living on your feet, be it doctor, field engineer, construction manager or whatever and you need an iPad like device you can carry in your pocket.

Originally Posted by addabox

I seem to recall a time, fairly recently, when many where sure Apple was presently to release an "iPhone Mini", since obviously they'd need to extend the product line to cover all the action and not leave any money on the table.

Of course, you don't hear too much about that any more, since the new "action" is all about 5"+ screens and Apple needs to make one of those, now.

As Soli pointed out, touch devices are inherently different from iPods or Macs, since the screen size is part of the UI. The iPhone is the size it is because Apple's exhaustive pre-release testing suggested to them that that size works best as an aspect of the entire device, software and hardware. Same goes for the iPad. Apple didn't make the iPad the size they did for laughs, they did it because they determined that that was the best size for a device other than the iPhone. Pocketable: 3.5" screen. Not pocketable: 9.7" screen. It could have been 7 at launch. It could have been 11. They chose 9.7" because of how it worked.

So a 7" iPad wouldn't just be device to slot in between the iPhone and existing iPad, to cover the market and satisfy "choice." It would have to work, in the sense Apple defines work-- do something better in a compelling way. Samsung makes devices in every size just in case. Not Apple.

Originally Posted by sunilraman

On a more serious note, I'm intrigued by Android but the Galaxy S2 and Note that I've played with are laggy...
I do like the AMOLED screen and the vibrant contrast and colours. But how come the animations and transitions aren't as smooth as one would expect?

Originally Posted by Gatorguy

I don't know the exact reasons. I recall a blog a couple of months back that went into detail on the reasons, and how ICS had generally addressed most of the issues. Most of the review sites also mentioned significant improvement in the screen response with many saying it was no longer noticeable in most applications.

Ars is one of my most trusted review sites and they said there were times that they could still see a slight stutter when opening a new app, but that overall it was vastly improved and not really much of an issue now.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/revie...viewed-1.ars/4
The most recent bugfixes(4.0.4?- not certain) are also mentioned as further improvements in a couple of specific areas.

Originally Posted by snova

agreed.

I agree partially. You are completely right about the Classic iPod vs Flash based iPod (music player).
That was two completely different demographics.

The classic was designed for "all of the music in your pocket" using a spinning HDD, the other was "a lot of music in your pocket" using flash. However, as soon as they started going after all these different colors and sizes of the flash based iPod, they stopped focusing on creating revolutionary products and switched to evolutionary product to fill different niche. About that time, iPod growth slowed down. Mini, Nano, I lost track.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ip...er_quarter.svg

Originally Posted by snova

and now sales have finally been shrinking for the past few years and will continue along this trend until they shut it down.

Originally Posted by addabox

Apple may or may not elect to make a 7" iPad at some point. If they do so it will be because they think they can make a great product that they can sell in great numbers which addresses an actual market.

Originally Posted by addabox

As the most astonishingly successful company on the planet I think we can maybe at this point give the benefit of the doubt and assume their reasons for doing or not doing something are pretty sound.

Originally Posted by hdboy

You won't see an iPad mini from Apple. If anything, you'll see an iPod+. Also, the speculation that this rumored device might not be released until fall is an indicator it is more likely to be a larger iPod.

An iPad mini's 4:3 aspect ratio would be all wrong for a versatile, 7-inch device. These need to be a 7-inch device with a 16:9 aspect ratio for three reasons:
- To hold and operate with one hand on occasion.
- To fit into (some) pockets (a 4:3 device would not fit).
- To fit into the 180mmx100mm opening of automotive dashboards (larger, 4:3 devices would not fit).

Apple engineers would be brain dead to design a device that isn't versatile enough to be used by hand AND in vehicle entertainment systems.

Why do bloggers and the mainstream media keep reporting these dumb iPad mini rumors?

Originally Posted by charlituna

I could ask you the same thing about when it doesn't.

Originally Posted by Ireland

Imagine the iPhone already existed and fit perfectly in any pants or jeans pocket.

Originally Posted by Carmissimo

I was thinking the same thing, namely that if the product in question is to be released around the time when Apple releases new versions of the iPod Touch, it makes sense that it will be the next Touch, not a smaller version of the iPad.

I question how a 7-inch iPad would slot in pricing wise. I suspect that Apple is going to have a lower-cost iPad to offer beginning Wednesday, basically the iPad 2 selling closer to $399 than the current $499. Let's say the entry point for an iPad is $429. Right now in the US, pricing for the iPod Touch ranges from $199 to $399. What price would we see for a hypothetical 7-inch iPad? It would have to be more than a Touch, something like maybe $299 to start. This device would canibalize iPad and Touch sales. It would be less enjoyable to use than an iPad due to less screen real estate which diminishes watching video, browsing, e-reading, gaming and so on. It would lose the pocketable convenience of the Touch. It would make it problematic if Apple wanted to make the Touch a little larger, which is the next logical progression in that device.

A 5-inch Touch would be just about as portable as the current Touch and it would as a result be a rational companion to an iPad, rather than a curious sort of device like this often-rumoured, never-produced 7-inch unit. I own a Touch and intend to buy an iPad. They have different strengths and it makes sense to own both.

I was once of the view that Apple should have made a 7-inch iPad but then I sampled the 9.7-inch iPad and found that it is just the right size if you don't plan on trying to force it into your pocket. The Touch, on the other hand, feels to me like it is just not quite the right size. It's perfect for a smart phone but for a handheld that you can pocket, not so much.

Originally Posted by fjose1929

Samsung spending on future innovations is nothing but FUD for WS. Already their fab in Texas is starting to prove to be a disaster. I doubt if apple will continue purchasing from Samsung. Why do I say the fab in Texas is turning into a disaster? Well, Samsung is trying to trying to raise money specifically for the fab.

Originally Posted by Gatorguy

That was discussed in depth here at AI a few weeks ago.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=141412

Originally Posted by SuperTomcat

Originally Posted by Dazabrit

I think you're absolutely right in the fact that a 7 inch iPad still doesn't quite fit in the lineup. It's not quite portable enough for a broader market. Women would probably carry them in handbags much like books/Kindles but a 5 - 6" iPod would be a much better prospect around $299.

3.5" iPhone
5.5" iPod
9.7" iPad

Originally Posted by jragosta

Let's see. The article says that the plant is running at capacity and Samsung is willing to invest another billion dollars in expanding it.

Just what part of that leads you to think that it's a disaster?

Originally Posted by sennen

Well said. I think they'd keep a lower priced model based on the iPad 2 in the product line before they go to 7". I may well be proven wrong, of course.

Originally Posted by Buckeyestar

Actually that's an argument against the iPad entirely.

Originally Posted by Gatorguy

Anyway, a comment on the one reason why a 7" iPad/iPod is almost certainly being developed by Apple: Samsung said it, and of all the little rumor sources ranging from Digitimes to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung is the one in the unique position to know what Apple is buying. If they say Apple is making a 7-8" slate, I believe them.

On why Apple would consider one: If you look at the most popular free and paid app trends in the AppStore they predominantly swing to games. Buyers might convince themselves they're buying a tablet for productivity, but app downloads are evidence it's more for entertainment in reality. A 7" tablet makes a much easier to hold and use device for gaming, and that's what Apple sees a smaller tablet being used for IMO.

Originally Posted by snova

Agreed, this is why I bought a Kindle. $79.. Great battery life, great screen for reading in the day time. Get one. Dedicated buttons from turning pages.. great book reader! Buy one.
Crappy tablet however.

my iPhone fits in my shirt, pants or shorts pocket , don't need inside jacket pocket. Work much better especially, when its inappropriate to haul around a jacket (i.e. summer time).

I highly doubt it.. you don't want to be a customer.

If you really wanted an iPad, you would have bought one already.You don't want to buy one, you just want to complain.

All it proves is there is a market for cheapskates. Just like the Netbook market.
The fire is worse book reader (bad battery and bad screen compared to eInk) than the $79 Kindle and a worse tablet then an iPad. If someone gave me a Fire for x-mas, I would return it and buy one normal Kindle and spend the other $120 on something else.

the same could have been said about Netbooks.

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

There track record isn't very good as I recall.

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

Along with pre-empting competition, your last paragraph is the best rational (I've heard) for offering a smaller iPad device -- i believe that the iPod is what it is and should not be expanded into a larger model.

Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz

What is the difference between a smaller iPad and a larger iPod?

Originally Posted by Ireland

I'd actually prefer Apple to even kill the iPod touch and just have the iPhone and 9.7" iPad. That way their more focused on the iPhone and iPad and can work on getting the prices as cheap as possible. I see the iPad replacing the iPod touch my many teenagers (as the price comes down) and the iPhone continuing to be the best phone you can get.

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

That's a neat mockup but I wonder about its practicality from a design, construction and usability standpoint.

Originally Posted by snova

you can't please all the people all the time.. and you know what? that is ok. The best customers are the reasonable ones that want to be your customers. There are plenty out there. For those that don't, they will always standing on their soapbox and demanding a 7" root-able iPad with removable battery, OLED flexible screen, SD card slot, USB ports, slide out keyboard, 4G LTE, which allows you to run Microsoft Office and play Flash for less than the cost of the HW while calling you a money greedy evil monopolistic corporation.

Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton

If Samsung cared about practicality, they wouldn't be making 4.5 inch nerdgasm phones with a short battery life in the first place

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Not content with making their phones so big they're impossible to use, Android manufacturers have taken to making their phones impossible to HOLD at all.

Originally Posted by jragosta

That's what happens when you look at one data point in isolation.
Now, look at this chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IP...er_quarter.svg

It's pretty clear that iPod sales peaked in the Christmas, 2008 quarter - just as iPhone sales were starting to take off. What seems to have happened is that many people have chosen to use an iPhone instead of an iPod and other phone. The decline in iPod sales was not caused by the variety of iPod products, but rather by the iPhone introduction.

Sometimes you have to cannibilize your own sales..

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil


And they think the word 'track' means 'climb into a janitor's closet and make out with a mop'.

Originally Posted by snova

agreed.

I agree partially. You are completely right about the Classic iPod vs Flash based iPod (music player).
That was two completely different demographics.

The classic was designed for "all of the music in your pocket" using a spinning HDD, the other was "a lot of music in your pocket" using flash. However, as soon as they started going after all these different colors and sizes of the flash based iPod, they stopped focusing on creating revolutionary products and switched to evolutionary product to fill different niche. About that time, iPod growth slowed down. Mini, Nano, I lost track.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ip...er_quarter.svg

and now sales have finally been shrinking for the past few years and will continue along this trend until they shut it down.

The same will happen to the iPhone and iPad if they do not keep innovating and keep doing things to stay revolutionary. When they stop being revolutionary then you will see 7" iPads of all different colors and special edition iPhones form U2. At that point they better have another revolutionary product in the market (i.e. AppleTV, whatever) or it will be time for me to start thinking about selling the stock. I hope that day never comes. This is why I don't want them to even consider resorting to selling a 7" iPad just yet. When you do that, it means they are out of ideas for innovation in the mainstream and will start to spread themselves into every niche to keep their numbers up.

It tends to happen to a lot of companies.. they go from selling a huge revolutionary product like a Model T (any color you want as long as it is Black) to producing the same evolutionary cars under different brands (Ford, Lincoln, Mercury) in every color of the rainbow, differentating each make with different headlights, tail lights, interior trim, and special editions until they are on their backs. Remember the K-Car? It was revolutionary and saved Chrysler, and its evolution without further innovation also just about killed Chrysler too. I think their low point has got to be the Chrysler TC by Maserati. OMG. Talk about niche to the extreme. This was a company completely on its back and out of ideas.