The smaller iPad, which the tech world has been chattering about non-stop for the past couple of weeks, is said to be a 7.85-inch slate designed to counter the new releases of the Google Nexus 7, along with the purported new Kindle Fire.
It’s turned out to be one of the most divisive subjects in tech memory, and with no solid evidence – along with the fact that it seems to go against everything Apple has ever strived to achieve (downscaled, cheaper, less-powered than the current flagship), it has garnered its fair share of skeptics, myself included.
Of course, many would welcome the idea of getting their hands on an Apple product at such a low price of around three hundred bucks, but even though some of the most reliable pillars of the journalistic community such as The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg seem to believe the release of the device is imminent, there is a strong feeling that this is an Apple rumor gone way out of hand.
Still, with so many believers, it’s not going away any time soon, and one Twitter user by the name of TrojanKitten has given us an idea of how the new iPad would measure up against current tablets and tablets not yet released.
The Nexus 7 and Kindle fire are both seven inch slates, but the iPad Mini, despite being a huge rival to those aforementioned Android devices, would be quite a great deal different in terms of form factor. It’s unlikely to deviate from the 4:3 aspect ratio of the current iPad, and it is for this reason that a 7.85-inch LCD would suit the device better as opposed seven.
Of course, it will likely be marketed as a “7-inch tablet”, but the currently rumored dimensions pitch it as around 40% larger than other 7-inch tablets, whilst also being two-thirds the size of the current iPad. This would render it a bit of an anomaly in terms of categorization, and one has to wonder whether it will be small enough to compete with the compact nature of its rivals.
Still, if the incessant rumors do eventually bear fruit, methinks consumers will opt for a cheaper (yet slightly more expensive than other tablets) iPad, and even though it seems as though it will be a little bulkier than the likes of the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire, the fact that “iPad” has become synonymous with tablet will inevitably sway consumers towards the Apple gadget as opposed to the Droid.
For me, the key to cracking the Apple-dominated tablet market lies in the reception of the Microsoft Surface. Would you agree? Leave your thoughts via the usual mediums below!
(via DaringFireball)
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