There is every indication that such rumors may turn out to be utterly false

Mar 12, 2012 19:31 GMT  ·  By

Another speculative report from Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes has emerged today mentioning (for the gazillionth time) that Apple is on track to release an 8-inch iPad. But there's one new tidbit this time around.

Apparently the rumor-crazed site has recently learned that Apple is talking to manufacturers to craft “slim bezel displays for the highly speculated 7.85-inch iPads to increase the viewing area of the small-size tablets.”

This according to the utterly-ambiguous “sources in the upstream supply chain” who also reportedly added that the 7.85-inch iPad was designed to take on Amazon’s tablet devices, as well as the ones sold by Samsung Electronics.

The report will sound like music to skeptic's ears regarding Apple’s reluctance to create anything in the 7-8-inch range.

The Cupertino-based mammoth has stressed on countless occasions that tablet devices need to be in the 9-inch range in order to provide a great experience for the customer. At least in their view. And they don't seem to be doing it wrong in the tablet segment, now do they?

And, as Sir Jonathan Ive will tell you, Apple doesn’t do anything that’s less great than the last thing they've launched. So, it begs the question: is this piece of news doubtful?

Yes. In fact, it's highly doubtful that this rumor will ever materialize as it is presented at the moment.

For instance, Apple doesn't need to launch anything new to stop Amazon and Samsung in their tracks. They've got the now-cheaper iPad 2 for that. Heck, they're practically giving away first-gen iPads as refurbs on the Special Deals site. And the original iPad is still a worthy adversary of today's tablet PCs.

But that doesn’t mean we want to burst anybody’s bubble. We can never say for sure that Apple will, or will not do something in the future.

So, for the sake of DigiTimes’ reporting, here goes the rest of the piece:

“Although the 7.85-inch iPads may not adopt Retina displays as in the recently released new iPads, the 7.85-inch model is likely to use IPS/FFS panels from LG Display and probably AU Optronics (AUO), the sources indicated.”

“The 7.85-inch iPads will target the sub-US$300 segment and are likely to be priced US$249-299, the sources estimated.”

Now let's get our feet back on the ground a bit.

· Apple just recently launched its third-generation of tablet computers simply called “the new iPad”. Seems like a pretty clear attempt to keep things as neat as possible. No need for various versions, numbers, etc. Just an iPad. One iPad for everyone.

· Its screen resolution is substantially improved (2048x1536, which translates into 3.1 million pixels - a million more than your huge HD TV), but the display size has remained the same - 9.7 inches. In other words, Apple wants to stay true to the screen's real estate.

· Finally, the tablet is almost identical to the iPad 2 in shape and size, and there is no indication that Apple ever wanted to change that.

Now, we'd love to hear what you guys think of these 8-inch iPad rumors. Let's start from here: have you ever considered that Apple's iPad was too big?