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Now that Google has hit the ground running with a smaller, more portable tablet, the rumours of Apple doing the same with an iPad Mini are again starting to ramp up.
We’re now hearing from Bloomberg, usually a very knowledgeable source when it comes to insider Apple info, that the Cupertino Company has plans to launch a smaller iPad tablet device in October.
As we’ve heard before, the report states that the screen size will be decreased from 9.7-inches to somewhere between 7 and 8-inches. We’ve heard rumours before that the exact size will be 7.85-inches diagonally, but those same reports said that the screen would also be the same pin-sharp Retina Display used in the iPad 3 – Bloomberg says that’s not going to be the case.
The publication spilled little else about the rumoured device, but it does seem to firmly believe that such a product will be launched later in the year. We’re not convinced that Apple will put such a product into production however, due to its ever increasing stranglehold on the tablet market.
Gartner reports that in a tablet market that is expected to reach a value of $66.4 billion this year, Apple has a whopping 61% share of the market with its 9.7-inch iPad tablet in three different generations.
Sure, a smaller tablet to compete with the affordable likes of the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Prime could virtually kill off the tablet market, but will it be worth doing for Apple? They’ve always pointed a disapproving finger at Google’s Android and its fragmentation on devices of all shapes and sized, and ex-CEO Steve Jobs famously decreed that any screen smaller than the iPad would be too small.
Apple tends to reserve the September/October time of year for launching a new iPhone, but perhaps a new iPad will join it to fill the gap between phone and tablet. We’ll need to wait to find out!
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
Via: Bloomberg
Image Via: Ciccarese Design
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