Apple to launch 7.85-inch iPad in 2012, say sources
Apple is likely to launch a 7.85-inch iPad prior to the fourth quarter of 2012 in addition to a new iPad scheduled to be released at the end of the first quarter, according to sources in the supply chain.
Context & Ripple Effects
The 7.85-inch iPad rumor is a repeat, not a debut: back in August 2010 outlets reported an Apple 7-inch iPad targeted for Christmas that never shipped, so today's DigiTimes claim arrives with a track record of unfulfilled small-iPad predictions attached. What is new is specificity — supply-chain sources tie the smaller model to a concrete window, with production reportedly beginning in Q2 2012 and sales before Q4.
Both claims remain unconfirmed, and they sit alongside other December 2011 signals of an active iPad pipeline, including a replacement microphone flex cable part surfacing at reseller TVC-Mall that hints at a redesign ahead of the next iPad. If the sourcing holds, Apple would be preparing to run two iPad screen sizes simultaneously for the first time.
First-order effects
- Apple's supply chain would need to tool up for a second iPad form factor from Q2 2012, splitting panel and assembly orders between the existing 9.7-inch model and the 7.85-inch variant ahead of the new iPad expected at the end of Q1.
- A sub-8-inch iPad would put Apple directly into the compact-tablet tier for the first time, forcing a pricing decision against cheaper small tablets rather than defending the 9.7-inch category alone.
Second-order effects
- Samsung, already litigating against Apple in Mannheim over the slide-to-unlock patent, would face Apple competing in smaller tablet form factors while the two companies fight over the software features those devices ship with.
- Component suppliers built around single-size iPad volumes would gain a second, lower-cost device to fill capacity, shifting some bargaining power toward whoever secures the small-panel orders.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the iPad stops being a one-screen product line and becomes a segmented family across price tiers — the structure that has defined every mature Apple hardware category.
- Recurring small-iPad reports since mid-2010 suggest durable demand-side pressure for a cheaper entry point; whether Apple acts or keeps resisting remains the open question the 2012 roadmap will answer.
The trend: Tablets are moving from a single canonical screen size toward multi-size product families, with Apple's rumored 7.85-inch iPad as the decisive test of whether the premium vendor follows the market down-market.