Apple rumored to begin production of 7.85" iPad in third quarter of 2012

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014


A new rumor claims Apple's supply chain partners have begun delivering samples for a 7.85-inch iPad to the company in preparation for volume production that could start as early as the third quarter of 2012.



DigiTimes reported on Thursday that, according to industry sources, makers within Apple's iPad manufacturing system have sent over the samples for "verification." The publication wasn't entirely sure whether production would actually begin in the third quarter, but it called the possibility "likely."



Tipsters went on to suggest that the rumored smaller iPad could reach a price as low as $249-299. According to them, Apple will likely release an 8GB iPad 2 for between $349-399 and lower the price of the 16GB iPad 2 to $449.



Reports that Apple is investigating the possibility of a "mini" iPad have emerged out of Asia for some time. The Wall Street Journal gave a boost to the rumor's credibility last month when it reported that Apple officials have shown suppliers designs for an 8-inch iPad model. The device would reportedly have a similar screen resolution as the iPad 2 in spite of the smaller form factor.



The Journal did caution, however, that Apple may not have fully committed to the project yet and could ultimately scrap it.



Apple is poised to unveil its third-generation iPad at a media event in San Francisco next Wednesday. Invites for the event tease that the iPad maker has something "you really have to see…and touch."





Apple's March 7 event invitation, via The Loop.







The next-gen iPad is expected to sport a Retina Display with a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels. It will also likely have a faster processor and may include 4G LTE connectivity. Apple may be prepping for near-immediate availability of the device, as rumors coming out of China suggest that shipments of the so-called "iPad 3" are scheduled to arrive in the U.S. by March 9.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 117




    Again with the DigiTimes?
  • Reply 2 of 117
    Seriously? This rumor goes around every few months. Let it go...
  • Reply 3 of 117
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    I would be all for this. A lower priced 7.85 iPad with thinner bezel and 1024x768 resolution would be a nice option to have.
  • Reply 4 of 117
    not going to happen... iPad is iPad because of its present form factor.. if they are going to change anything they might go for a bigger form factor in couple of years. I dont think merging a mobile phone and Tablet features in one size is going to that big a market. and the most important reason of all.. I dont think Apple will want to confuse their customers with too many form factors of basically the same device.. They failed 14-15 years back they will fail again.
  • Reply 5 of 117
    Hmmm.. I wonder how much sandpaper will be included with the model?



    Seriously though, one thing people have to realise is that one can never say never. 3 years back, Apple decided that the 9.7" screen size is the optimal size. A lot changes in 3 years and if there is now a market for a 7.8" tablet, then Apple can go for it if they choose to.



    And of course, my OCD will compel me to get one.
  • Reply 6 of 117
    kreshkresh Posts: 379member
    but, but, but you have to file your fingers down because DJ (Dead Jobs) said so.



    hmm. If the Kindle Fire and other 7" tabs are having no effect on Apple, as claimed by Cook, why is Apple building this device?
  • Reply 7 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post


    I would be all for this. A lower priced 7.85 iPad with thinner bezel and 1024x768 resolution would be a nice option to have.



    It would certainly be the way for Apple to tackle the low end of the market if they felt it was a threat. However, I don't think it is and wonder how this could hurt the quality of the brand and make it more difficult for devs to support 2 iPad resolutions at 2 sizes for 3 different display consideration.



    Would they make iBooks Author for this? If they were going to come out with an 8" model that to me seems be better for Education due to price would they not have waited in introducing iBooks Author or is it safe to say this is counted out? Certainly 8GB won't work well with textbooks.
  • Reply 8 of 117
    Yes, yes, this is being built by a team of Apple new hires.



    There are other new hires teams working on the matte-screen iMac, Mac mini-tower, 4.5" iPhone, iPad running OS X Snow Leopard, iPod Hi-Fi 2, next-generation iPod sock, Mac Pro G5...



  • Reply 9 of 117
    Oh not this again...
  • Reply 10 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BestKeptSecret View Post


    Hmmm.. I wonder how much sandpaper will be included with the model?



    Seriously though, one thing people have to realise is that one can never say never. 3 years back, Apple decided that the 9.7" screen size is the optimal size. A lot changes in 3 years and if there is now a market for a 7.8" tablet, then Apple can go for it if they choose to.



    And of course, my OCD will compel me to get one.



    1) For the iOS for iPad UI it's optimal. For a smaller display it wouldn't be. icons would be smaller and placed closer together (pixels, not distance).



    2) 9.7" being optimal doesn't mean other sizes aren't good or useful. For example, I think the 13.3" Mac notebooks are optimal for the average user but that doesn't mean I think that any other size display isn't good or useful.
  • Reply 11 of 117
    iCloud makes managing multiple iOS devices easy.
  • Reply 12 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jonamac View Post


    Oh not this again...



    What's more likely LTE in the iPad or a 7.85" iPad?
  • Reply 13 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kresh View Post


    but, but, but you have to file your fingers down because DJ (Dead Jobs) said so.



    hmm. If the Kindle Fire and other 7" tabs are having no effect on Apple, as claimed by Cook, why is Apple building this device?



    This won't be a smaller iPad... it will be a LARGER iPod Touch. The touch is a great gaming machine right now, this will make it even better. They can spread out the Touch's pixels and just hit the ground running using all the current iPod Touch games in the store.



    This is the "product transition" Apple was talking about.
  • Reply 14 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post


    This won't be a smaller iPad... it will be a LARGER iPod Touch. The touch is a great gaming machine right now, this will make it even better. They can spread out the Touch's pixels and just hit the ground running using all the current iPod Touch games in the store.



    This is the "product transition" Apple was talking about.



    That's how I see it. It not only keeps the iPad intact but it prop up the shrinking iPod market. There is an additional tactic Apple can employ by calling it a touch: TN panel. People think the iPhone and touch have the same 960x640 display but one is IPS and the other TN. Obviously this helps keep costs down.
  • Reply 15 of 117
    wigginwiggin Posts: 2,265member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nishanth View Post


    not going to happen...



    I recall a lot of people here saying the Verizon iPhone would never happen, too.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nishanth View Post


    iPad is iPad because of its present form factor.. if they are going to change anything they might go for a bigger form factor in couple of years. I dont think merging a mobile phone and Tablet features in one size is going to that big a market. and the most important reason of all.. I dont think Apple will want to confuse their customers with too many form factors of basically the same device.. They failed 14-15 years back they will fail again.



    Look at the phone market. The fragmentation of the Android market, while excessive, has not seemed to slow down the big market share gains Android has made. The dire predictions many here made about fragmentation destroying Android have yet to come true. It appears that price and offering users a choice has more than made up for any fragmentation concerns. One of the biggest reasons I hear from people who have chosen something other than an iPhone is the "one-size-fits-all" solution Apple is offering. (and I don't necessarily mean "size" as limited to physical size)



    Now look the tablet market. Yes, Apple clearly holds the high ground. But does that mean they should sit on their perch and watch Android tablets on the low ground surround them? If more Android tablets start emerging on the low end of the market, they will also inevitably take stabs at the high ground. So Apple can sit and watch that happen, or they can build defenses on the low-end of the market to prevent any small form-factor Android tablets from ever gaining traction.



    I'm not saying it's going to happen, but there is an argument to be made for the strategy. If there is no market for the Android tablet to grow and mature, it will be less of a threat to the iPad, in whatever sizes it comes in.



    As far as "confusing customers" (again, this was often cited as a reason why there would never be a Verizon iPhone), did the multiple form factors of the iPod confuse people? They all did the same thing, and that seems to have worked out pretty well for Apple.
  • Reply 16 of 117
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    An 8GB iPad is useless. If you consider the OS then you are looking at less than 7GB of useful storage. Beside, the iPad ebooks, apps, and videos are considerably larger that those for the iPhone. So 8GB won't cut it.
  • Reply 17 of 117
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    An 8GB iPad is useless. If you consider the OS then you are looking at less than 7GB of useful storage. Beside, the iPad ebooks, apps, and videos are considerably larger that those for the iPhone. So 8GB won't cut it.



    http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/...tal-consumers/



    says the avg person has 35 apps installed in their device. In the end it's about choice. The best thing Apple can do is find a frictionless way to expand the iPad empire. Keeping the bar of entry at $499 and above isn't the wisest thing to do IMO.
  • Reply 18 of 117
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nishanth View Post


    not going to happen... iPad is iPad because of its present form factor.. if they are going to change anything they might go for a bigger form factor in couple of years. I dont think merging a mobile phone and Tablet features in one size is going to that big a market. and the most important reason of all.. I dont think Apple will want to confuse their customers with too many form factors of basically the same device.. They failed 14-15 years back they will fail again.



    I love these posts. And when I mean love, I mean I can't believe how idiotic they are. Everything that Apple might do that you might not want them to do is equivalent to them being doomed, right? Apple will suddenly 'fail' like how they did 15 years ago by releasing a smaller iPad? Even when there isn't a HINT of similarity in what that company was back then to what it is now? How do you know SJ didn't personally greenlight the smaller ipad to be released in the future? And it's going to 'confuse' their customers? What, just like how everyone is confused that they have laptops in 4 different sizes? I can't see a smaller ipad creating any confusion- as long as it runs the same apps, etc, it will be a choice between 2 sizes. Not that big of a deal. I think most consumers are smart enough to make a decision on something so basic as size. Also, why would a larger ipad be a good thing, but a smaller one will confuse everyone?



    You people need to stop it with the 'not going to happen' bullshit, then proclaiming that Apple will fall into catastrophe if that does happen. You have no idea what Apple will do, and when they do eventually do this, you'll end up looking like a fool.
  • Reply 19 of 117
    While not impossible, if you were Apple, would you rather spend a lot of time and effort to develop a smaller iPad at 8", redo any necessary UIs to handle the size difference in their OS, make 3rd party developers redo any of their UIs to handle it, fragment your product lines even more for a market that might not really be there and it just be a good price-point...OR find a way to cut more cost on the building of a current product with minimal development, like cutting the amount of memory, and just keep building those already developed products with minor changes, reducing fragmentation, but having it cheaper at around $350. According to the estimated build costs from various sources they would still be making a good chunk of money off the iPad 2 at that price, not as much but still some, and save a ton of money on development for it. Then continually keep lowering the price, like they've done with the iPhone 3GS.



    I bet the market for the smaller tablets is existent not because people are wanting a smaller tablet, but because those tablets are cheaper. If you could get a 10" tablet down to $200-$300 I'll bet it would kill them off quickly. The 7"-8" tablet doesn't really get you more portability or benefit over a 10". Its still too big to put into normal sized pockets, so you would still need to carry it separately or in a bag. You lose screen real estate and usefulness with a smaller screen obviously. You'll likely lose battery life due to the reduction in possible battery space. The 7"-8" tablets aren't gaining popularity because of the size, its because of their price.
  • Reply 20 of 117
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    My aunt has a Kindle Fire



    My gf daughter bought a Kindle Fire



    I've met a handful of other people that purchased the Kindle Fire.





    Those weren't millions of fantom sales. There is a market for people that want a tablet but don't want to invest $500 for one.



    I'm totally cool with a $399 iPad 2 remix but even then it's still in a high price bracket.



    A smaller iPad at $299 -$349 is a viable option for some and quite honestly I think the market is just beginning to bloom.



    Cloud technology and easy Wifi make any mobile device worth it. Sure it's smaller but so is my 3.5" iPhone display and I get around on that thing well enough.
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