Cult of Mac is reporting news of more Apple rumours. Speculation is always rife around Apple, and it quite often turns out to be wrong – from the iPhone 5 announcement speculated to be last year to rumours that it would have a 4″ screen. Nonetheless, the speculations are worth exploring and they sometimes turn out to be true.
One of the arguments is that a smaller iPad will be used to rival the Samsung Note, which is apparently competition because it comes equipped with a stylus. The obvious response to this is that many phones came with a stylus just a few years ago, but the move to capacitive screens – which Apple spearheaded – forced the move away from styluses. The suggestion that the Note will have an impact is to suggest that we should have just stuck with PDAs. As for the Samsung Note being a competitor, it should be mentioned that with the iPad being nothing more than a bigger iPhone, Apple already have an iPad with a smaller stature.
However, the rumours this time come from “well-informed and long-time Apple pundit John Gruber”, who recently said in his podcast The Talk Show that Apple is “noodling with” an iPad measuring 7.85 inches. Although Steve Jobs famously said, when Samsung released the 7″ Galaxy Tab, that a tablet is no good under 10″, with him no longer at the helm of the company, future products are anyone’s guess. Gruber said that numerous sources have claimed Apple has “one in the lab”, and that it was “just like the 9.7-inch iPad shrunk down a little bit.” It is probably true that Apple do have one in the labs, but that’s never a sign that the product will hit the market. Any product will have multiple variations in the labs, and the iPad will no doubt be the same.
As always, time will tell whether or not Apple release a smaller iPad, and as with all things Apple, there will be defiant opinions on both side. But personally, I doubt it.
