Apple is preparing a new tablet to be released in 2015. The iPad gets bigger than any tablet produced by Apple so far. The news comes not so as a surprise, but rather as a challenge. Tablets have seen a dramatic decrease in sales numbers in the last two quarters and the iPad was not an exception. Customers who were interested in tablets already bought them. As no other major upgraded models were introduced, there was no incentive to buy a new one.
Microsoft aimed to maintain its profile as a company oriented toward productivity when it released Surface. Tablets are associated with leisure activities more than anything else. Sure, when there are important emails to read and answer immediately, tablets are fine. But laptops and desktops are still the main input device for businesses. So anything more complex than an email will probably be postponed until a physical keyboard is under the fingers. Moreover, the mouse cursor is still much more precise than a finger. How about working in Excel on a tablet?
But Microsoft was stubborn enough to continue promoting Surface even when tablets were all fun and games and in smaller sizes. The company even released i3 and i7 versions of Surface Pro 3 in August.
The iPad gets bigger as Apple plans to target businesses
In the meantime, Apple did not promote the iPad as a business device. Soon this will change and Apple will attempt to follow Microsoft’s model. Apple recently even partnered up with IBM in an effort to penetrate the business environment.
Right now Apple produces 7.9 and 9.7 inches tablets. Bloomberg reports that according to ‘some people’ who asked to remain anonymous as the information is not public yet, Apple will soon start producing a 12.9 inches tablet.
The first time rumors of a larger iPad occurred was in May, when a Korean website launched the information. That is when MacRumors decided to more precisely observe the difference between the three tablets would be and asked an artist for the rendering you can see.
Until the iPad gets bigger, the existing under 10 inches iPad models will be released in updated versions just in time for holidays.
Equally important, according to the same sources, Bloomberg confirms that Apple will unveil two new iPhones on September 9, both the 4.7 and the 5.5 inches models.