NYT Says Apple is Readying a 7″ iPad
The company is developing a new tablet with a 7.85-inch screen that is likely to sell for significantly less than the latest $499 iPad, with its 9.7-inch display, according to several people with knowledge of the project who declined to be named discussing confidential plans. The product is expected to be announced this year.
There has been an increasing number of reports stating the same, and with Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7 in the market, I don’t see why Apple wouldn’t want to step into the game. Sure, Apple has never been a company that introduces a product just because others have, but they’re really good at this tablet game and have heavily investing in the manufacturing process.
However, I think that this purported 7″ iPad will only be useful if one can hold it comfortably in one hand. Both the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 have a 16:9 screen ratio and hence and taller than they are wider. The iPad on the other hand comes with a 4:3 ratio. Because of this, it ends up wider than the former to. The 7″ iPad would only be lucrative for me if I can hold it in my hand comfortably while reading it.