Digitimes once again revives talk of a 7.85-Inch iPad. According to the site, Apple is likely to launch a 7.85-inch iPad prior to 4th quarter of 2012 in addition to a new iPad at the end of the 1st quarter. Apple reportedly is looking to take on the increasing number of competitors such as Android's 7-inch Kindle Fire:
However, in order to cope with increasing market competition including the 7-inch Kindle Fire from Amazon and the launch of large-size smartphones from handset vendors, Apple has been persuaded into the development of 7.85-inch iPads, the sources indicated.
There's been enough talk of such a device that it seems certain that Apple has at least been prototyping one over the past year. This previous mockup of such a device was discussed a year ago as a possibility:
Previous rumors have suggested that a 7.85-inch iPad would carry the same resolution (1024x768) as the current iPad. This would open the door to Apple differentiating their new iPad with a much higher resolution Retina display, while offering the old resolution on a physically smaller device.
Given the number of ongoing rumors, it seems certain that Apple has been experimenting with a 7.85-inch iPad. We'd guess its ultimate arrival will depend on how the market responds to the Kindle Fire and similar tablets in the coming year.
Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models.
In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring.
There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category.
M4...
Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by Juli Clover
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch.
All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Apple today announced its first custom cellular modem with the name "C1," debuting in the all-new iPhone 16e.
The new modem contributes to the iPhone 16e's power efficiency, giving it the longest battery life of any iPhone with a 6.1-inch display, such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16.
Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 8:46 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is permanently closing its retail store at the Northbrook Court shopping mall in the Chicago area. The company confirmed the upcoming closure today in a statement, but it has yet to provide a closing date for the location.
Apple Northbrook opened in 2005, and the store moved to a larger space in the mall in 2017.
Apple confirmed that affected employees will continue to work for the...
However, in order to cope with increasing market competition including the 7-inch Kindle Fire from Amazon and the launch of large-size smartphones from handset vendors, Apple has been persuaded into the development of 7.85-inch iPads, the sources indicated.
I'm not sure if this is a joke, but what you just listed is hardware and has nothing to do with the OS of the phone. Hardware is always evolving and most of it is not researched/made by the phone manufacturers themselves.
Phones running Android have been having the lead on that kind of things mainly because a new phone is released around every week, because they have different price segments (lower and higher end phones) and because they have to make hardware features selling points given the amount of competing manufacturers offering phones with the same software.
Anybody could predict that quad-core and 5G phones are coming someday. You're not a genius for putting them on the market slightly before the others. They're just numbers and don't change the concept of a phone.
iPad 3 will be launched for what iPad 2 retails for right now (about $499) and iPad 2 will go on sale after launch for about $299 to compete with the prices of Amazon Kindle Fire and Nook.
