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Evidence Pointing to Bigger iPad Found in iOS 8.1

Developer discovers “3x” assets for high-res tablet display

Oct 9, 2014 08:24 GMT  ·  By
iOS 8.1 Beta 2 graphical resources
   iOS 8.1 Beta 2 graphical resources

Browsing through the graphical resources of iOS 8.1 Beta 2, a developer has discovered potential evidence pointing to the existence of a new, larger iPad. Perhaps one that will be unveiled as early as next week.

With Apple having confirmed next week’s event, it’ll be interesting to see if these findings indeed materialize in the form of new hardware. But first, let’s see what the buzz is about.

“3x” assets indicate bigger iPad

Developer Hamza Sood, who has been responsible for various such discoveries in the past (the man sifts through software like flour through a sieve), has found new graphical resources in the second beta of iOS 8.1. And he reported these findings on Twitter (embedded at the end of this article).

Sood believes he’s found evidence of a Retina HD iPad in the works at Apple. Most likely he’s right. The 1x assets are for non-Retina displays (i.e. iPad 2), while the 2x assets are for Retina screens (i.e. iPads 3, 4, and Air).

iPad Air 2 or iPad Pro?

Next week’s showcase promises to lift the cloth off a new version of the iPad Air. At least that’s what the leaks tell us. But the display specifications remain unknown. While the actual size of the screen appears to remain unchanged (again, according to recent leaks), the pixel count is something of a mystery. However, there’s no reason to believe that Apple wants to further push the pixel boundaries on a display that already performs brilliantly. In all fairness, Retina is all we need on a 9.7-inch display.

However, if rumors of an iPad Pro or iPad Plus hold any truth to them, Apple could be planning to unveil a new 12-inch iPad. Perhaps they have a couple of test units ready for the October 16 event.

At the same time, it’s just as likely that the company is merely testing the waters with these new assets. It could be prototyping any number of tablet versions and screen sizes internally, therefore these findings don’t always confirm that major developments are underway.

iOS 8.1 Beta 2

iOS 8.1 Beta 2 is available to all registered developers via the iOS Dev Center on Apple’s developer portal. The new beta includes only a few visible changes and will mainly focus on fixing bugs, from what we’ve gathered.

The release schedule is uncertain too. Apple can spend anywhere between one week and several months testing these point updates, so any forecast on our behalf would be premature at this point.