iPad 3 with Retina display, new device sized between iPad and iPod in Apple's pipeline
While conflicting rumors have described both a larger screen and a smaller, cheaper iPhone model purportedly planned for this summer, one connected industry expert tells AppleInsider that Apple …
Context & Ripple Effects
AppleInsider's report lands in the middle of a muddled rumor season: other accounts have described both a larger-screen iPad and a smaller, cheaper iPhone supposedly planned for this summer, and this single-source claim adds two more devices to that pile — a Retina-display iPad 3 and something sized between the iPad and iPod. None of it is confirmed; both the Retina iPad and the mid-sized device are flagged as rumored.
What is confirmed around it frames the stakes: OS X is on track to launch this summer, and in the same week Apple added copyright infringement to its App Store rejection grounds and was reportedly reconsidering the 15-minute in-app purchase window over children's spending in freemium apps. Apple is simultaneously tightening its software platform and, if these rumors hold, widening its hardware ladder.
First-order effects
- A Retina-class iPad 3 would put immediate pressure on Apple's display supply chain to double panel resolution at iPad volumes, on top of whatever iPad 2 production is already ramping.
- A device slotted between iPad and iPod would force Apple to draw new price and feature boundaries inside its own lineup rather than against competitors alone.
Second-order effects
- Every additional screen size and resolution multiplies the adaptation work for App Store developers, who are already operating under Apple's tightened rejection rules — the platform's gravity grows with each form factor.
- Rival tablet makers would face a pixel-density benchmark set by Apple's supply chain scale, pushing their own component costs up to stay competitive on spec sheets.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple's business becomes a deliberately tiered hardware architecture — multiple price-and-size rungs from iPod through iPad — with the App Store as the common lock-in layer that makes each new rung cheap for Apple to add and costly for users to skip.
The trend: Apple is filling out a tiered device ladder where each new form factor deepens App Store lock-in more than it cannibalizes sibling products.