Filip Novotny We bring you a reflection from the pen of John Gruber, this time on the subject of the iPad mini.
For a long time now, there have been speculations about the iPad mini on various and non-tech-oriented websites. But would such a device even make sense?
First, we have the display. According to various sources, it could be a 7,65-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. That adds up to 163 dots per inch, which brings us to the same density as the iPhone or iPod touch had before the introduction of retina displays. With the same 4:3 aspect ratio and 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, it would look like a first or second generation iPad in terms of software. Everything would be rendered just a little bit smaller, but not by much.
But what would such a device look like as a whole? As the first option, a simple reduction of the existing model without any significant changes is offered. Even many websites, such as Gizmodo, are betting on such a solution. In various photomontages, they play with the mere reduction of the third-generation iPad. Although the result looks quite plausible, it is still more likely that Gizmodo is wrong.
All Apple products are precisely designed for a certain set of uses, which can be seen, for example, in the fact that the iPad is not just an enlargement of the iPhone. Sure, they share a number of design elements, but each of them differs, for example, in the aspect ratio or the width of the edges around the display. The iPhone has almost none, while the iPad has very wide ones. This is due to the different grip of tablets and phones; if there were no edges on the iPad, the user would constantly touch the display and especially the touch layer with the other hand.
However, if you shrink the existing iPad and reduce its weight enough, the resulting product would no longer need such wide edges around the display. The third generation iPad as a whole device is 24,1 x 18,6 cm. This gives us an aspect ratio of 1,3, which is very close to the ratio of the display itself (1,3). On the other hand, with the iPhone, the situation is completely different. The entire device measures 11,5 x 5,9 cm with an aspect ratio of 1,97. However, the display itself has an aspect ratio of 1,5. The new, smaller iPad could therefore fall somewhere between the two existing products in terms of edge width. When using the tablet, it is still necessary to hold it with your thumb at the edges, but with a sufficiently lighter and smaller model, the edge would not have to be as wide as it is with the "big" iPad of the third generation.
Another question related to the possibility of a smaller tablet being released is this: photos of the upcoming iPhone's production parts often appear on the Internet, but why are there no similar leaks regarding the smaller iPad? But at the same time, there is a fairly easy answer: the new iPhone will very likely go on sale very soon. At the moment when the launch and especially the start of sales of a new product is about to happen, such leaks are inevitable, despite all the efforts to keep it secret. At the moment, Chinese manufacturers are going full throttle so that Apple can stock its warehouses with millions of iPhones as soon as possible. We could expect its sale together with the performance itself, which could be as early as September 12. At the same time, the iPad mini can follow a quite different product cycle, it could only be presented at the given conference and then put on sale later.
But we may have the right answer right in front of our eyes. The production parts of the smaller iPad appeared on several websites, but they did not garner much attention. Even three independent sources – 9to5mac, ZooGue and Apple.pro – have provided photos of the back panel of the smaller iPad. Although we don't know much about the dimensions or quality of the display, it is clear from the images that the smaller iPad model would be significantly different from the current one. At first glance, probably the most significant change is the radical change in the aspect ratio, which is close to the 3:2 format we know from the iPhone. In addition, the edges of the back are not beveled like those of today's iPads, but rather resemble the rounded iPhone of the first generation. On the bottom side, we can notice the absence of a 30-pin docking connector, instead Apple is apparently going to use a connection with a lower number of pins, or perhaps microUSB, which other European institutions would like to see introduced.
What conclusion can we draw from these findings? Either it can be a forgery, either by Chinese manufacturers, journalists, or perhaps as part of a disinformation campaign by Apple itself. In that case, the smaller iPad might actually look more like Gizmodo-type photo montages. The second possibility is that the captured production parts are genuine, but the display itself will not have an aspect ratio of 4:3, but 3:2 (like the iPhone and iPod touch), or even the unlikely 16:9, which is also rumored for the new iPhone. This variant could mean the continuation of wide borders on all sides of the display. The third possibility is that the parts are genuine and the display will actually be 4:3. For that reason, the front of the new device will look more like an iPhone, keeping the edges only on the top and bottom, due to the FaceTime camera and the Home Button. Not one of the listed options can be ruled out, but the last one probably makes the most sense.
Whatever the reality, it would be quite logical if the images of the back of the iPad were released by Apple itself. Together with them, on the pages of two important American newspapers, Bloomberg a Wall Street Journal, revealed sensational news that Apple is preparing a new, smaller version of the tablet. At a time when Google's Nexus 7 is enjoying great success with reviewers and users alike, with many calling it "the best tablet since the iPad," this could be a thoughtful PR move by Apple. First it was a bait in the form of a few shots of the back, which is great to occupy technology sites (like this one, right?), and then two targeted, legitimizing articles on the pages of reputable dailies. The Wall Street Journal couldn't do without mentioning Microsoft's new Nexus or Surface tablet in its article. Bloomberg is even more direct: "Apple is set to release a smaller, cheaper iPad (…) by the end of the year, looking to assert its dominance in the tablet market as Google and Microsoft prepare to release their competing devices."
Of course, it is not conceivable that Apple would start developing its seven-inch tablet after the introduction of the competing ones. Likewise, it is hardly realistic that a smaller iPad could compete in price with devices of the Kindle Fire class or the Google Nexus 7. Although Apple has an advantage in the form of lower prices with suppliers thanks to the huge volumes of its orders, it also has a diametrically different business model than most competitors. It lives mainly from the margins on the hardware sold, while most other manufacturers sell their products with very low margins, and their goal is rather to promote the consumption of content on Amazon, respectively. Google Play. On the other hand, it would be extremely disadvantageous for Apple to only look at the high sales of competing tablets, which is why we believe that PR is at play (public relations, editor's note).
Another important question is: what can the smaller iPad attract, if not the low price? First of all, it could differentiate itself from its competitors with its display. The Nexus 7 has a 12800:800 aspect ratio at seven inches and a resolution of 16 × 9 pixels. At the same time, thanks to thinner edges and a 4:3 format, the new iPad could offer a display that is almost 40% larger than that available from other manufacturers with almost the same dimensions. On the other hand, where it would obviously fall behind would be the pixel density on the screen. According to available information, it should be only 163 DPI, which is not much compared to the 216 DPI of the Nexus 7 or the 264 DPI of the third-generation iPad. It is logical that in this regard, Apple could make a compromise within the framework of maintaining an affordable price. After all, none of the current devices got a retina display already in its first generation, so even the smaller iPad could only get it in the second or third variation - but how to compensate for this lack? The size of the display alone is definitely not the only selling point.
While maintaining a price that can compete with budget platforms, Apple could bet on its consistency. The third-generation iPad got a retina display, but in conjunction with that, it also required a more powerful battery, which comes with a toll in the form of greater weight and thickness. On the other hand, a smaller iPad with a lower resolution and less powerful hardware (which requires a retina display) will also have lower consumption. Without the need to use very powerful batteries, Apple can thus save on costs, but above all, it can find another competitive advantage here. A smaller iPad could be significantly thinner and lighter than, for example, the mentioned Nexus 7. In this regard, we have no information yet, but it would certainly be nice to reach the level of the iPod touch with thickness.
The new, smaller iPad could therefore benefit from a larger display on the one hand, and better compatibility on the other. Furthermore, let's add support for mobile networks and a rear camera (the existence of both can be inferred from the photos), a wide selection of applications on the App Store (Google Play faces a high level of piracy) and global availability (Nexus is on sale so far only in North America, Australia and Great Britain), and we have some solid reasons why the smaller iPad can succeed.
I don't think there will be any iPad Mini.
it must be different, the nexus 7 will cut off too much. personally, if apple doesn't offer a mini iPad, I'm buying a nexus. ecosystem-non-ecosystem
163 dots per pixel -> Are you serious? ^^Nexus -> Nexus without Nexus resolution 12800×800 pixels -> I would really like to see such a machine.
“(Google Play is experiencing a high level of piracy)” -> This is more of a benefit for the users isn't it? It is difficult to install an app from the Internet on iOS without having a jailbreak, and most people do not have that.
Btw: don't be like Radek Hulán, who deletes comments from FB :).
Definitely a disadvantage. How many quality and successful games are there on iOS and how many on Android? Which platform will the developer prefer to develop apps for? Probably more for the one where he will know that 95% of users will pay him for it and he will be happy to provide it at a discount sometimes. As a developer, I would avoid android. iOS closedness is a win/win situation for users and developers.
You're right, but on the other hand, there can't be a store without apple's support (and its commissions and its approval process). It's the same as on Windows, where you can vamp the game you want, but then there can be a store like steam, where the commission is directly from some game developers... and certainly there are alternative stores for android, and the second thing is how many people who vamp software would they bought it, 10 percent maybe. I definitely don't approve of it, but it's not a 95% loss, if the parents buy the child a phone on the base, he probably doesn't have free access to their credit card, here Apple has a huge advantage that it collects the most active clientele.. :-)
On Android, there are 9 vampire apps for every one sold, and I admit that this is only 90%. I'm surprised that it's even worth it for someone to develop on android. Most of the games are served for an extra 20 ducks, and for that price the parents of children could sometimes buy them.
And can you back it up with something? Over the past year, about 40 androids have swarmed around me, of which about 30 use play, and not one of them knows how they could even demonize the application...
On the contrary, everyone around me is with an Android typing the password: You applisto, I won't pay for it, we're not crazy. And they didn't buy anything in their lives. I didn't buy anything on Android either, if only because of poor security. I normally buy from Apple and I never tried to jailbreak - there was no need. It's just different.
It's actually called the Nexus, just like the stylus. In neoplasms, it is not inflected as, for example, in the names Julius. I follow the advice of a colleague from PedF, so maybe he didn't screw me up :)
As far as piracy is concerned, the benefit to users ends when developers stop developing quality apps due to widespread theft, because no one would pay for them anyway.
This kind of procedure does not suit me at all on Apple. It doesn't seem to me that they're going to start making a smaller iPad just because other manufacturers are doing it. After all, what would be the benefit of such a device? Rather, I think they will create an entirely new product. The small iPad would actually be a "crossover" between an iPhone and an iPad. So what's the point? I would rather see it on a device with a long life and an easy-to-read display, such as the Qualcomm Mirasol. But that technology still has its problems, so Apple won't go for it. I would say that information noise is just being created here. Apple has always followed and will always follow its own path.
there is already a precedent - iPods, MacBooks, iMacs. otherwise, we cannot talk about the "neapple" step. the iphone was left alone because it is a smartphone - you cannot go radically up or down with the diagonal and apple could not offer the device significantly cheaper while maintaining quality - which is the case with the iPod and I think also with the iPad.
Apple has created a market segment and will be pushed to diversify, such as offering a wide range of Macbooks, iMacs, and iPods.
It would be more comfortable for reading books in bed than the current iPad.
In addition, if they want to break into schools, a cheaper device would make sense.
I think a smaller iPad makes sense. If it was a smaller iPad 2 with 16GB of memory at a price of 300 USD, it could be used just fine in schools for textbooks. Many people would also be fine with a smaller portable iPad. The 10" iPad is already quite large.
I'd rather have an iPad Maxi to work on. Touch apps are the future and coupled with fast internet and cheaper cloud space it would be a fantasy.
My speech. Something around 24″ to build a folding table into the table with easy removal would be great. HW like iMac. But I would also understand Apple's effort with the iPad mini.
it is no longer portable and then such a solution already exists from wacom. the same is only about the display, but if the dimensions are such that it really cannot be exceeded (over 17′), then it is more logical that such a solution would rather be OSX - since it is for professionals