12-inch iPad

Data from Appsee claims to have identified information regarding the as-yet-unannounced larger iPad Pro, expected to feature a display ranging between 12.3 and 12.9 inches. The app analytics firm says an iPad with identifier ‘iPad6,8’ appeared in its logs with a reported screen resolution of 2732×2048. Internally, the larger iPad models are referred to as J98 and J99. The resolution is especially notable as it was previously spotted within code for iOS 9. For comparison, the current iPad Air 2 has a screen resolution of 2048×1536 with a ‘iPad5,1’ model identifier.

The jump in pixels for both axis is substantial although somewhat expected given the screen will also be increasing in area by about 80%. AppSee says its logs indicate the device has been used to open several apps from the App Store. The company has also identified ‘iPhone 8,1’ and ‘iPhone8,2’ devices corresponding to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

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Tim Cook hinted at significant developments to the iPad line in describing the recent 16 percent drop in year-on-year sales yesterday as “a speedbump” in an interview with Re/code.

“We couldn’t be happier with how we’ve done with the first four years of the iPad. I’d call what’s going on recently a speed bump, and I’ve seen that in every category” …

He made that same comment before during the last earnings call and obviously that’s not the whole story…

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With further rumors of a larger iPad in the works – the latest one Chinese site Pad News claiming that Apple is testing several variants of a 12.9-inch iPad – we thought it would be interesting to gauge the level of interest.

The specifics of this claim fall well into sketchy territory. Pad News suggests a 4K display, which wouldn’t match iPad resolution ratios (though as the current iPad is close to 2K, something close to 4K wouldn’t be impossible). It also suggests a launch date of April – given that Apple switched iPad launch dates from the spring to the fall, switching back again doesn’t seem terribly likely.

The core rumor, however, has been around for quite some time. Several different sizes have been suggested, but 12.9 inches is the one most commonly cited. This idea first emerged back in May, attached to the world’s least likely name, and gained credibility (without the silly name) when reported by the WSJ in July … 
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