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Launch Appears Near for Smaller Apple Tablet

Apple Inc.'s component suppliers in Asia are preparing for mass production in September of a tablet computer with a smaller screen than the iPad, people familiar with the situation said, suggesting a launch for the device is near.

Wall Street Journal Lorraine Luk

Context & Ripple Effects

The smaller-iPad story has run in cycles: a 2010 report of a 7-inch iPad arriving by Christmas never materialized, and Apple spent two years insisting the 9.7-inch size was the only right one. In February 2012 the Wall Street Journal reported Apple and suppliers were testing a tablet with a smaller screen, and today's follow-up moves the signal from the lab to the factory floor — Asian component suppliers reportedly preparing for September mass production, per people familiar with the situation.

The pickup breadth is itself notable: Bloomberg, The Verge, Engadget, MacRumors and others all ran versions within a day, with Bloomberg framing it explicitly as an answer to Google's Nexus 7 and MacRumors pointing to a 7.85-inch panel possibly using Sharp's IGZO display technology. That matters because the iPad still dominates usage — data cited in October 2011 put it at 97% of tablet web traffic — so any move downmarket is about defending that position, not finding a new category.

First-order effects

  • Apple's Asian component suppliers shift into production-preparation mode for a September ramp, converting months of reported testing into actual purchase orders for smaller panels and parts.
  • Apple faces an internal product-line decision it has resisted publicly: adding a second, smaller screen size alongside the 9.7-inch iPad rather than holding the one-size line.

Second-order effects

  • Low-cost small Android tablets — with Google's Nexus 7 the freshest entrant per Bloomberg's framing — lose their price-and-portability differentiation if Apple meets them at the 7-inch form factor.
  • Display suppliers stand to gain a second high-volume Apple screen program; MacRumors' reporting on a possible 7.85-inch IGZO panel suggests Sharp-class display technology could win a new design slot.

Third-order effects

  • If the pattern holds, tablets settle into a segmented market — premium large screens versus budget small ones — forcing every vendor to field both tiers instead of betting on a single flagship size.
  • A successful small iPad would extend Apple's confirmed dominance of tablet usage (97% of tablet web traffic as of late 2011) into the price-sensitive tier, raising the bar for Android tablet economics across the supply chain.

The trend: Apple is shifting from one canonical device per category toward tiered lineups, responding to low-cost Android entrants by extending its own brands downmarket.

Related: Apple Inc. · iPad · Apple, Suppliers Test Tablet With Smaller Screen · Report Says Apple to Launch 7-inch IPad by Christmas

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