back to article Apple's secret 12.9-inch MONSTER needs a good fondle, say biz sources

Apple may be planning to debut a new, larger iPad early next year, if murmurings from the fruity firm's Asian supply-chain partners are to be believed. According to a report in the Korea Times, Apple has placed an order for 12.9-inch high-resolution panels with a South Korean display manufacturer, with the goal of releasing a …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    According to a report in the Korea Times, Apple has placed an order for 12.9-inch high-resolution panels with a South Korean display manufacturer

    Couldn't be for a 12.9 inch Retina Macbook Air running on an ARM chip could it?!

    1. Eddy Ito

      That's along the lines of what I envision too. Some sort of Macpad Air Ultralite running iOS to compete with an MS Surface Pro.

      $ sudo umount /dev/cheek -tongue

      1. MigMig

        Wow. It's been several years already and there are still people who have yet to learn that an iOS/Android platform is not the same animal as a full OS. And no, making a screen bigger is no substitute. Perhaps it will take a few more years for reality to sink in.

        1. Frankee Llonnygog

          Re: Perhaps it will take a few more years for reality to sink in.

          Don't worry - in time you'll catch up with what people are doing in practice, rather than in your theory

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Wow. It's been several years already and there are still people who have yet to learn that an iOS/Android platform is not the same animal as a full OS. And no, making a screen bigger is no substitute. Perhaps it will take a few more years for reality to sink in.

          Apple are good at one thing it is letting other companies take the first steps and then slipstreaming them with a better more refined product - iPod, iPhone, -iPad

          Where can they go from here? The iWatch won't happen as the market is still in it's infancy. I think they will take the idea of a hybrid device like Microsoft, HP and Asus have all tried and blow them out of the water again. A Retina Macbook Air form factor with a 12.9 inch touch screen running on an ARM chip with incredible battery life that can detach to become an iPad would sell like hotcakes.

          You say that iOS is not the same animal as a full OS and I totally agree. Apple could easily compile OS X for ARM and I've no doubt that it is already running on ARM in one of their R&D labs somewhere. They have added lots of features to OS X to make it more iOS like and stuff like the launchpad gives OS X the touch screen interface it would need to make this useful on a tablet.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      So secret it doesn't exist?

      Or is it just a mini touch screen for a laptop?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Where Apple leads

      All the others will follow.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Wait till they bring out the 12'x12' wall mounted retina iWall, Samsung will be scrabbling to copy that one.

    5. Youngdog

      My first thought too Mr Crapbeans

      This screen could be for the rumoured OS X Tablet they are working on in a bid to snaffle up the thumbprints of Apple users who don't just consume

  2. Efros

    Becoming a bit like

    very expensive Willy Waving. I wonder what they reckon as the fanbois tax on one of these things. I'd say a minimum of $1000, more likely closer to $1200.

    1. Thorne

      "Now shut up and take my money!"

      And the fanbois will line up to be milked...

      1. MrDamage Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: "Now shut up and take my money!"

        Wouldnt they actually be "milking" themselves over it once they got it home and into their darkened bedroom?

        <- coat, cos they'll be looking in the pockets for some tissues.

    2. Frankee Llonnygog

      Re: Becoming a bit like

      Is the fanboi tax the same as the price? If so, where can I get one of these free Samsungs?

  3. Dick Emery

    Still relevant

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIdD0BVFakI

  4. FrankAlphaXII
    WTF?

    What's the target audience/use case?

    If this is indeed a tablet at that size I have to ask, how is a 12.9 inch tablet useful? Isn't the point of a tablet lightness and portability? I mean to a graphic designer or a photographer/journalist doing on the fly editing maybe a tablet that size would be nice.

    I can also see a use case that directly impacts me, as a Military Intelligence unit working with quickly updating digital maps or images coming off a satellite would probably find it useful as making everyone who works in the IMINT, GEOINT, and occasionally SIGINT/COMINT cells crowd around a PC monitor gets old quick (especially if you've had people in the field for a few days reporting back to the TOC and pointing things out on the map or in images, and they haven't showered yet. Makes you want to shove your earpro up your nose or make you thankful you have a cold), but everything I can think of are all pretty limited use cases, and they're all business, so that probably wouldn't justify building hundreds of thousands of these things, so I take this rumor with a grain of salt.

    The 12.9 inch ARM laptop idea that Larry posited here sounds more likely to me. But Apple does strange and seemingly counter-intuitive things sometimes, so who knows.

    1. Paul S. Gazo

      Re: What's the target audience/use case?

      @FrankAlphaXII

      This is the device that gets me to buy a tablet. Better would be an Android device. The market segment I'm in isn't the "sit on the couch and play Angry Birds" while watching sitcoms market. It's not the market that leaves a tablet laying around in case the urge to watch some YouTube arises.

      What I want is a tablet the size of a hardcover book (though thinner if possible) that I can throw PDFs of real books on and use the in full-colour at full-size. Specifically RPG gaming but I could see doing this with textbooks as highly applicable as well. I'd enjoy having my entire library of RPG books stuffed into this device. Four or five shelves of reference material at my fingertips - in its original format. Not just a text rip, not a black & white e-book format, not HTML, and not some reconstituted app. The books. So I can treat one tablet just like whichever of a hundred or so books I want at the moment.

      1. Hellcat
        Joke

        Re: What's the target audience/use case?

        @Paul S. Gazo

        Are them extra couple of inches really as important as they make out?

        Any of the 10+/-0.3" tablets on the market currently in my experience are okay for reading PDFs in booklet (2 page) format.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What's the target audience/use case?

        One of the reasons I do NOT play RPG's any more is that it's damn hard to cart the books around these days. PDF's required!

    2. Lusty

      Re: What's the target audience/use case?

      This is what separates Apple from Samsung. At Samsung, a geek says "we should make X which is similar to what we have but with bigger screen" and the boss says "go for it". At Apple the boss says "WHY?!" and it only gets made if there is a good reason.

      1. Richard Jones 1
        Unhappy

        Re: What's the target audience/use case?

        Corrections needed, done for you.

        'At Apple the boss says “WHAT MARK-UP” and it only gets made if there is a huge profit per item.'

        As for me, I am STILL wondering what is the point/use for anybody's tablet.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: What's the target audience/use case?

          Corrections needed, done for you.

          'At Apple the boss says “WHAT MARK-UP” and it only gets made if there is a huge profit per item.'

          As for me, I am STILL wondering what is the point/use for anybody's tablet.

          Ah yes because Apple are the only company in the world who are interested in mark ups and making a huge profit per item. I wish all companies would be as ethical and pious as Samsung who just break even on all their devices that they sell and who are only in business out of the kindness of their heart rather than making profits for their shareholders....

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What's the target audience/use case?

      "I can also see a use case that directly impacts me, as a Military Intelligence unit..." ...playing Angry Birds.

      There, I fixed it for you.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What's the target audience/use case?

      Be downright nice for field engineering. Wouldn't have to be always looking around for a power source on the job if it has *real* battery life. That could actually get me looking at Apple for myself, rather than just recommending it to non-nerds.

  5. Mikey
    Coat

    Maxi-Pads...

    Well...

    http://www.natracare.com/p92/en-GB/Natracare-Products/Maxi-Pads.aspx

    Mines the one with the industrial sponge with the gluey battery, thanks.

    1. Sheep!

      Re: Maxi-Pads...

      Damn you beat me to it!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iPad Maxi?

    Sounds like a tampon. Then again a large portion of Apple consumers are stuck up c****

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iPad Maxi?

      Wow you have some mega chip on that shoulder.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    12.9" high resolution panel?

    Couldn't possibly be for a 13" laptop, then?

    The article doesn't even specify that these are touchscreen panels, and since Apple uses in-cell technology the touchscreen is integrated into the LCD matrix.

    Reporting fail.

    1. Philippe

      Re: 12.9" high resolution panel?

      Absolutely.

      There were a rumours a few months back about Apple merging the 11.6 and 13 inch MacbookAir into something around 12.5 inch, thinner with a high resolution screen.

      That could just be it.

      I for one is waiting for this.

      There are so many Mba lookalike these days that Apple needs to reset the bar and go thinner.

  8. Jerky Jerk face

    Max iPad

    Your kidding right?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Max iPad

      "Your kidding right?"

      You're = you are.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A 12.9 inch tablet is still portable - in the same way as a 13" Macbook Air is = very.

    Enable bluetooth mouse and you have a decent workstation that could suit many people.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh great a 12" computer screen that has very little control over where to put icons, and can only display one window.

    Sounds like the dumb terminals I used in the 80s, except with colour.

    Still, it's Apple, it will sell (so long as they remember to make them shiny, and not colourful and plastic)

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