Recent reports suggest that Apple is currently testing larger displays for future iPhones and iPads. A new render shows what a 12.9-inch iPad would look like.
Consumer electronic companies are always trying to make the 'perfect device' and use different methods to try and do so. Samsung has not been shy about testing out this theory with its smartphones. The company has released smartphones under its Galaxy brand that range in size from the 3-inch Galaxy Y up to the 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega in order to offer consumers a choice of the perfect-sized display smartphone.
Steve Jobs famously said that the iPhone's 3.5-inch display was the perfect size and that upcoming Android smartphones with 4-inch displays would be dead on arrival. Apple would eventually end up releasing the iPhone 5 with a 4-inch display. Jobs also thought that the 9.7-inch display of the iPad was the perfect size and blasted tablets with smaller displays.
"The reason we wouldn't make a 7-inch tablet isn't because we don't want to hit a price point, it's because we don't think you can make a great tablet with a 7-inch screen. The 7-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad. [Increasing screen resolution on small devices is] meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size."
"There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps."
Apple would eventually create a smaller tablet with the 7.9-inch iPad mini. The rumors of a 12.9-inch iPad have been heating up and MacRumors has commissioned a rendition of what the rumored device will likely look like, and how it compares to the iPad and iPad mini.
It borrows design elements from the iPad mini with its thin bezels. The 12.9-inch display would offer a substantial increase in display area and would likely be a higher resolution than the current Retina Display. Just like the iPhone 5, the display increase would allow an extra row of icons.
For the time being we'll have to settle for iPads topping out at 9.7-inches, but it's great to know that the company might have larger plans for the tablet in the future.
