14 DAY TRIAL // Apple’s next major iPad upgrade will adopt design elements akin to the diminutive iPad mini released in October 2012, according to a Chinese source citing a Foxconn employee.
Customers have responded extremely well to the diminutive tablet computer, and Apple now seems poised to implement some of its benefits on the larger iPads.
The fifth-generation iPad has already been rumored to adopt a thinner bezel and sloping edges much like the smaller iPad mini.
An insider from Hon Hai Precision Industry (which owns Foxconn) is now spilling the beans on Apple’s chosen design for the iPad 5, as the media refers to it.
Originally quoted by My Drivers (a Chinese IT site), this Hon Hai insider is reportedly a Foxconn employee. Foxconn assembles most of Apple’s portable gadgets, including the iPhone and the iPad.
Patently Apple cites the source as saying that “the iPad 5 is to sport a new design that will adopt narrow bezels and chamfered edge corners. The end result will have the new iPad 5, code named ‘sapoxx,’ look more like a magnified iPad mini.”
If the rumors are true, Apple could have the fifth-generation iPad ready for us this spring.
The Cupertino mammoth seems to have accelerated the refresh cycle of its tablet computers, likely in response to demand, as well as the competition.
The same thing is reportedly about to happen on the smartphone front. Up until this week, Apple was rumored to plan the launch of two new iPhone models. Many analysts believe one of them will be a low-end phone that everyone can afford.
On Monday, however, reports started to emerge that Apple was actually planning to launch three new iPhones in 2013, one of which is dubbed “Math.”
Like others, we believe there’a a good chance the rumor is fabricated, and that includes the name of the alleged 4.8-inch handset – “iPhone Math.”