Samsung Knows About a 7-inch Apple iPad, Sources Say

Samsung is preparing to ship a tablet computer to compete with Apple’s upcoming 7-inch iPad “nano”, sources from upstream component makers believe, according to Taiwan-based tech industry publication DigiTimes.

Samsung plans to unveil its new tablet PC, the Galaxy Tab, in September, with Apple expected to unveil its smaller iPad in the near future.

The report says that Samsung decided move away from a 10-inch tablet, which would rival Apple’s current 9.7-inch iPad, in order to better compete with an upcoming, 7-inch version of the device.

The Galaxy Tab boasts an in-house developed processor, just like Apple’s iPad.

Unlike the iPad, which runs Apple's proprietary iOS, the Tab will rely on the Android 2.2 operating system, the report said.

The sources cited by the Taiwan-based paper concluded that, “Since Samsung skipped the 10-inch panel format and jumped directly to 7-inch panel […] the company is actually aiming at Apple's upcoming 7-inch iPad for competition and not the current model."(emphasis ours)

The Chinese-language newspaper Economic Daily News corroborates such rumors, adding that Apple’s new iPad will weigh 500 grams, which is 200 grams lighter than the current iteration.

DigiTimes previously indicated that Apple planned the unveiling of a smaller iPad, citing researcher Mingchi Kuo.

Earlier this month, Kuo said that Apple was on track to launch an upgraded version of the 9.7-inch iPad boasting a new ARM Cortex-A9-based processor and 512MB RAM in the first quarter of 2011, alongside a smaller, 7-inch tablet employing the same processor and featuring an IPS panel with a resolution of 1024×768.

The analyst added that Pegatron Technology would supply new CDMA iPhones to both US-based Verizon Wireless and China-based China Telecom, and that that this new iPhone's back plate would be forged from metal.

Apple is known to have secured a licensing deal with Liquidmetal Technologies for rights to use a revolutionary material.