back to article Steve Jobs' death clears way for '13-inch' JUMBO iPAD HYPEGASM

Apple is testing larger screens for next-gen iPhones and iPads, according to whispers from hardware suppliers in Asia. The fruity firm has ordered some slightly larger iPhone displays, measuring more than four inches, and some supersize iPad screens at least 13 inches diagonally, the Wall Street Journal reports. The current …

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  1. alain williams Silver badge

    13 inches

    You mean diagonally, not across.

    1. Alister

      Re: 13 inches

      Down, not Across.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 13 inches

        Finally a tablet with a screen big enough to show off my double polaroid without needing a double polaroid.

        1. Arthur 1

          Re: 13 inches

          Upvote for the Red Dwarf reference.

    2. alain williams Silver badge

      Re: 13 inches

      Why did someone vote that down ? Read the article:

      "Apple in recent months has asked for prototype smartphone screens larger than 4 inches and has asked for screen designs for a new tablet measuring slightly less than 13 inches diagonally, they said."

  2. Andy Roid McUser
    Big Brother

    the king is ....

    Jobs is dead. Time to 'Think Different'

  3. Frankee Llonnygog

    Apple is testing ....

    ... lots of things. So what?

  4. jai

    13-inch tablet?

    or perhaps they are just POC'ing a touch screen macbook air?

    1. Arthur 1

      Re: 13-inch tablet?

      That was my first thought, too. You'd have to at least suspect it's slotting into an existing 13 inch product before guessing about them making an obnoxiously large tablet.

      And their ultrabook competition is certainly going the touchscreen direction, so it's very logical.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Look forward to the the next event, where a bunch of (surely jaded by now?) fanbois screech hysterically at having access to the types of screens Android has had for ages. It's all getting a bit absurd now, isn't it?

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Yes but all those other screen configurations can only run Android....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's all getting a bit absurd now

      If you're talking about those people that keep saying that XXX had it for years and now YYY is catching up, I agree -- not only absurd but annoying.

      Get out of your basement, screen size is ONE of the features of a tablet, price another, OS another, investment in apps another, personal idiosyncrasies and smugness factor another, and so on. Must we point this to {fandroids,fanbois} all the time?

      Also, kindly show "fanbois screech hysterically" in any event outside your imagination. The closest thing I've seen was Steve Balmer chanting "developers developers developers".

  6. FreeTard

    Innovation?

    This is as far from innovative as you can possibly get. What shall we do next, eh, attach a bigger screen and someone might buy it, even though it will be too big to hold comfortably for any period of time - like Microsoft's surface.

    Seriously apple, innovate if you want to sell stuff.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Innovation?

      Innovation should be done in conjunction with incremental improvements, they are not exclusive. It's pretty clear Android manufacturers aren't innovating either - like TV manufacturers they are just coming up with new things and throwing them on in the hope they are popular, rather than coming up with something genuinely useful.

      A slick touch-screen tablet that can run for days without charging doesn't, maybe, support much innovation, certainly it doesn't require it because whatever OS is used it is basically solving the problem very well.

  7. Rupert Stubbs

    Does 3 count as a plethora?

    I don't remember SJ going bonkers over the iPod Shuffle, iPod Mini and iPod range. Doesn't seem in any way comparable to Samsung's Spray'n'Pray approach to have an iPhone (4"), an iPhone Grande (5"), then an iPad Mini, iPad and iPad Grande.

    1. Tom 35
      Joke

      Re: Does 3 count as a plethora?

      "an iPad Mini, iPad and iPad Grande."

      But I would think that ...

      iPad Short

      iPad Tall

      iPad Grande

      Would be a better fit for Apple.

      1. andreas koch
        Go

        @ Tom 35 - Re: Does 3 count as a plethora?

        Skinny*, of course.

        *yuk

    2. CmdrX3
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Does 3 count as a plethora?

      or they could reposition stuff and have the iPad Mini, New iPad mini, Big iPad Mini, iPad Classic, iPad Classic Large Edition, iPad Large, iPad Large Mini, iPad Classic Mini and possibly if technology allows it, iPad Large Mini Mini.. but that might be a tough one.

      Paris is happy to take any size on offer.

  8. doctor dodongo

    13" is pretty unwieldy for a tablet. It would be nice to know the resolution/ratio on the screens. Chances are they're 16:10 and 2560x1600 and are for Haswell refresh of the 13" rMBP.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      The don't sell many Mac Pros but that doesn't mean it's not a line worth keeping... if there is a market for a larger tablet then it's worth pursuing, even if it's not the mass market, to stop someone else doing it.

    2. hitmouse

      Unwieldy only if you have small hands. A proper A4 (or even A3) tablet is what's needed for sheet music, and large format graphical material like comic books where layout and dimensions are very important.

      1. JDX Gold badge

        True, an A4 tablet probably has a lot of potential uses. As did the KindleDX... a niche market found it invaluable but that sadly wasn't enough.

  9. Steve Todd

    Call us back when they order a few million

    Until then any decent sized electronics company will be testing many different parts that may or may not end up in a production device.

    The only thing that S Jobs said about tablets was that he didn't think there'd be a big market for 7 inch tablets, that they were too big to compete with phones and too small to compete well against 10"+ tablets. As, at the time, the market for tablets in general was quite small he wasn't wrong. Small tablets didn't sell in huge numbers. As market size increased they became a practical proposition. This has nothing to do with wether or not a 13" tablet would sell.

    1. paulll

      Re: Call us back when they order a few million

      "he didn't think there'd be a big market for 7 inch tablets"

      Actually he said that they'd be,'DOA,' and ,'a painful lesson,' for anyone who made them. Went into some detail about how the idea of a 7" tablet was fundamentally broken.

      1. danbi

        Re: Call us back when they order a few million

        "Went into some detail about how the idea of a 7" tablet was fundamentally broken."

        ... at the time.

        Why do people need to always interpret someone's words out of context?

        1. paulll

          Re: Call us back when they order a few million

          Re: Call us back when they order a few million

          "Went into some detail about how the idea of a 7" tablet was fundamentally broken."

          ... at the time.

          Why do people need to always interpret someone's words out of context?

          Did people's fingers get smaller in the meantime? Did space-time morph allowing three different form factors somehow to become two?

          1. Steve Todd
            Stop

            Re: Call us back when they order a few million

            People have always come with a range of different finger sizes, your point is?

            1. Tom 35

              People have always come with a range of different finger sizes, your point is?

              See sandpaper comments

              http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/16/jobs_on_ipad_mini/

            2. paulll

              Re: Call us back when they order a few million

              "People have always come with a range of different finger sizes, your point is?"

              My point is that one of design genius Steve Jobs' reasons why 7" tablets would be "DOA" was that individual features would too small for people to tap or pinch, so unless people's fingers have all got smaller over the last few years, the context of his comments hasn't changed.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why don't they do an iPad/Air combo?

    1. Arthur 1

      OS will be an issue. Unless it's also dual boot.

      The expectation of what you can do on one and the other are very far apart. As is interface, etc. You can make a keyboard tablet, but not so much a true Air replacement.

    2. TheOtherHobbes

      Two screens.

      Call it an AuPair.

    3. danbi

      Why destroy both the iPad and the Macbook Air?

      It could be done technically, but does not make much sense.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple has lost its mojo

    The problem is that analysts and share holders are looking at Apple for new shiny shinys.

    They gotta keep the cash cow milking.

    So now they sit there looking at their range of products and now working on variations on a theme.

    They look at what others have done, what is selling and the money men say, "WE should be in that market sector". Apple are riffing on iphones and ipads - bigger ones, smaller ones, coloured ones (how about one with a micro SD slot, eh?!).

    Samsung have splattered tablets in ALL sizes EVERYWHERE. When markets like the iphone and ipad are saturated - you got a BIG problem if you're a one trick pony. They are ripping up the Jobs commandments - they really have no choice - the only way is DOWN and the only thing they can do is put the brakes on it. All companies eventually have to settle back into the pack.

    While the iphone was a game-changer - it's just another nice phone now. Itunes is a mess and they killed off their great advantage with iphone docks by changing the connector.

    When EVERYONE + DOG has a cool product, it's not cool.

  12. Gareth Gouldstone
    Stop

    What's with big screens...

    I want a phone I can slip in a pocket, not one that requires I carry a man-bag...

    1. John Bailey
      Gimp

      Re: What's with big screens...

      Then get one. Plenty around in all sizes.

      Well,, for most brands that is.

      The joy of choice. You can get what suits you, not what you are told you want.

      1. Gareth Gouldstone
        Stop

        Re: What's with big screens...

        Screen sizes are being pushed upwards; try finding anything smaller that 4" these days. So choice is limited to large, larger or largest...

  13. tony
    Coat

    Sorry,

    I think they've got it backwards, Tablets are supposed to get smaller whilst phones are supposed to get larger.

    Mines the one with 4" iPad & 13" iPhone

    1. MigMig

      Re: Sorry,

      The iPhone is already a small iPad and iPad a large iPhone.

  14. Big_Ted

    I heard they are testing a bigger ipad mini, a 2 inch bigger screen and $25 cheaper than an ipad.

    As for the iPhone they are looking at a 7.3 inch screen

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who would want a 13" tablet?

    Unless there are some serious advances on multiple fronts that could make it weigh less than the original iPad, it isn't going to be something comfortable to hold for very long. If you have to leave it in your lap or on a table to use it, perhaps you might want a laptop instead? Isn't the Mini outselling the big iPad now? How much of a market could an even larger, heavier tablet have?

    They are probably testing a 13" touchscreen for a laptop, but I think that's pretty pointless. I guess if they get to the point where adding it costs only $10 extra or something they might as well for the small number of people who think there's a point to this, so long as they don't ruin OS X to add touchscreen functionality in the way Windows 8 was!

    1. RetroTom

      Re: Who would want a 13" tablet?

      giants, giants I tell you

    2. hitmouse

      Re: Who would want a 13" tablet?

      A proper A4 (or even A3) tablet is what's needed for sheet music, and large format graphical material like comic books where layout and dimensions are very important. The market for musicians alone is enormous.

      There are markets for small books with small pieces of paper and markets for large books with large pieces of paper.

      1. danbi

        Re: Who would want a 13" tablet?

        That would be niche. Apple doesn't aim at niches, no matter how much we would like them to..

        The books comparison is not a good one. Books are 'single purpose devices' and much cheaper to produce.

        One day, when producing electronic paper devices becomes much cheaper, we could see them produced in all possible sizes. But this day is not today.

        1. hitmouse

          Re: Who would want a 13" tablet?

          "Books are 'single purpose devices'"

          Really? You do know there are books you can read and books you can write in, and their form factor varies according to what is being read or written.

      2. GrandpaChris
        Happy

        Re: Who would want a 13" tablet?

        Whatever you think about general computing, in the TV world (where computing is going) large screens are needed. We are so so into visual values that we need a wide variety of screen sizes to satisfy our visual needs.

        For example the ice box surface is crying out for large screen real estate. My TV room wall could use a high 4K definition screen. Perhaps the front door or any door will provide a screen surface.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Sources" "close" to the "situation" "revealed" that there is a "non-zero" chance that the "iMaxiPad" will "definitely or not" run Windows RT 8.1.

    You read it here first.

  17. mrfill

    Sod it - why not go for a 60inch plasma screen tablet. Now that's innovation!!

  18. kmac499
    Pint

    An iMaxiPad makes sense for us older geeks with failing eyesight, I hope it's nice and absorbent as well for our other weakening organs..

    Whaddya say it's not that sort of Pad...

  19. Daniel von Asmuth
    Holmes

    and the newborn's name will be

    iPad junior? MiniPad? TinyPad? iPaddy? Padlet? PocketPad?

  20. GrandpaChris

    17" iPad on my ice box

    Lets say bigger is better. iPads of all sizes. "Sorry Steve" (I'm Canadain as you can tell.)

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