Just two days after I bet that Apple is seriously considering larger iPads to take full advantage of Stage Manager, we got reports of a new 14-inch iPad Pro in the works.
I was thinking more like 15 inch, but if a 14.1-inch model is first to launch, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to resist …
It’s a common thing with Apple products and features that people dismiss ideas as crazy – right up to the moment that the Cupertino company makes them.
That’s been the case right from that “laughable” $500 iPhone, and it was also the case when some of us proposed an iPad larger than the 12.9-inch model. Plenty of people maintain that <Current largest iPad size> is as big as it makes sense to go with a tablet – until the next one arrives.
In my first impressions piece on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, I outlined the reasons I loved the large screen.
Video is really great at this size, and the speakers are amazingly powerful. Magazines feel like you’re looking at a full-size page in portrait mode. Ebooks let you see significantly more of the text on a screen, so less page-flipping. For websites, I’ve switched to portrait mode because the page-width doesn’t feel cramped and you can see so much more at once. I’m not much of a gamer, but I just fired up XPlane, and it’s clear that games too are noticeably more immersive on this size screen.
Some argue that anything bigger is no longer portable. Well, my 16-inch MacBook Pro is still portable – but many iPads never leave the home in any case.
14-inch iPad will likely win me over
When I still think 15 inches would be my ideal size for a larger iPad, I suspect that the difference between 12.9 inches and 14.1 inches is going to be enough for me to press the button. By that time, my existing iPad will be five years old, and the steep upgrade price will, I think, feel less painful.
I said earlier that I’d be aiming to resist an expensive upgrade now.
I’m going to be doing my very best to avoid the Stage Manager allure, and hold out for a later upgrade to a larger iPad.
Not all of you believed I’d succeed, but now there’s reasonably solid reason to believe that a larger iPad is set to launch next year, I’m confident I can convince myself to wait.
Has the report made anyone else reconsider a switch to an M1 iPad now? Would you hold out for a 14-inch iPad? Or an even larger model? Let us know in the comments.
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