Budget iPad, Apple’s entry-level model that starts at $329, is predicted to increase screen size on models releasing next year to match the eleven-inch iPad Pro.
- The entry-level iPad started with a 9.7-inch 1024×768 resolution display. In its third generation, it gained a Retina resolution of 2048×1536 without making the screen any bigger. The current ninth-generation model features a screen measuring 10.2 inches diagonally and a resolution of 2160×1620 pixels.
- Apple is now predicted to grow the screen size of 2023’s entry-level iPad to perhaps eleven inches, which would add even more pixels to work with.
- This begs the question of the 11-inch iPad Pro’s future, especially if the iPad Air swaps its display for an eleven-inch one (the current model features a wider 10.9-inch 2360×1640 screen packed with 3.8 million pixels).
Entry-level iPad coming in 2023 may sport a bigger screen
This prediction was made by Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), which has recently accurately predicted screens sizes of several Apple products ahead of launch. In its Quarterly Advanced IT Display Shipment and Technology report, parts of which were seen by 9to5Mac, DSCC writes that the iPhone maker will equip its entry-leave iPad with a “slightly larger” screen in 2023.
An eleven-inch iPad would definitely give you a bigger canvas to work with than the current 10.2-inch model. In addition, it would make developers’ lives easier because app makers would have one less screen size to worry about. Apple provides developers with advanced tools to create resolution-independent user interfaces but additional work is always needed to adapt the interface to multiple screen sizes.
Apple should kill the 11-inch iPad Pro
It’ll be interesting seeing whether Apple might also increase the iPad Air size, which currently has a 10.9-inch screen versus the 9.7-inch one in the first two generations. Should indeed the iPad Air adopt a bigger screen (say, eleven inches), then we’re pretty sure that there will no longer be place for the 11-inch iPad Pro in the lineup.
Or to put it another way: If regular iPads are approaching the iPad Pro territory in terms of hardware and screen size, then the eleven-inch iPad Pro needs to go away. And should that happen, Apple may need to rethink what the iPad Pro could be. The most obvious solution entails making a notebook-sized iPad Pro. And as it turns out, Apple is actually thought to be experimenting with new screen sizes for future iPad Pro models, including one allegedly featuring a fifteen-inch display.
Does that make any sense to you?