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发帖数: 3492 | 1 Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:22:32 PDT
Just hours after our latest summary of reports on the potential for an "iPad
mini" coming later this year, Bloomberg weighs in with its own claims that
Apple will be looking to introduce the device in October for availability
before the end of the year.
The new model will have a screen that’s 7 inches to 8 inches diagonally,
less than the current 9.7-inch version, said the people, who asked not to be
identified because Apple hasn’t made its plans public. The product, which
Apple may announce by October, won’t have the high-definition screen
featured on the iPad that was released in March, one of the people said.
Specifically, the report claims that the iPad will "have the same number of
pixels as those in the iPad before it was upgraded to the so-called Retina
Display earlier this year", giving the device a resolution of 1024x768
pixels. Using the same resolution as on the larger iPad will minimize
fragmentation for developers who already need to target their apps for both
iPad and iPhone/iPod touch sizes, but the higher pixel density will mean
that iPad content will appear smaller than on the full-size iPad.
Mockup of 7.85-inch iPad next to an iPad 2 (courtesy of CiccareseDesign)
The report also indicates that Apple has been mulling the idea of a smaller
iPad since the launch of the original model, even as Steve Jobs was panning
7-inch tablets being brought to the market by Apple's competitors. But with
Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's forthcoming Nexus 7 at least generating
interest at a much lower $199 price point, Apple may now feel that the
time is right to release a smaller, less expensive iPad that can help cement
its dominant position in the tablet market.
While talk of an iPad mini has been circulating for quite some time with
increasing rumors pointing to a launch later this year, Bloomberg is now the
second mainstream publication to lend its weight to the claims. The Wall
Street Journal reported back in February that Apple was testing such a
device and qualifying suppliers, but acknowledged that Apple routinely tests
products that are never released to the public. |
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