Apple this year launched the new iPads powered with the M1 chip: the 11-inch and the 12.9-inch iPad Pros. What size the ideal tablet should be has always been a debatable topic, one that has seen tablets across a range of display sizes being launched in the market, ranging from 8-inch ones to 12.9-inch ones. And for its next iPad, Apple might have decided to go the bigger display way, as claimed by Mark Gurman in his ‘Power On’ newsletter for Bloomberg. Apple has engineers and designers exploring the larger form factor, claims Gurman in the newsletter. He also added that these new iPads are still some years away from being launched, “a couple of years down the road at the earliest.”
Are the screens going to get bigger than 12.9-inch? A display of 13-inch or more would just make the device more likely to be preferred by customers who are buying it primarily to use it as a laptop. That means investing in the Magic keyboard too that would cost them extra. How would potential buyers who are not into using the iPad as a PC respond to that? It’s all hazy now since nothing has been announced or hinted at by Apple on the matter.
The top-selling iPad in Q1 2021 has been the entry-level 10.2-inch 8th gen Apple iPad, as per a report by Counterpoint Research. According to Counterpoint’s senior analyst Liz Lee, “the basic iPad models accounted for 56% of the overall iPad shipments in Q1 2021.” The tablets that came second and third were the iPad Air and iPad Pro series, with 19% and 18% shares, respectively. “Since consumers are constantly concerned about prices and portability, the latest iPad 8 emerged as the top-selling model,” said Lee.
Considering this, the probable move by Apple to build iPads with larger displays seems contradictory. Since the entry-level iPad is already a hit with customers across the world, perhaps the tech giant is thinking of making the bigger tablets gain a bigger fan following too.
