It’s been two years since the late Steve Jobs said Apple would never release a 7 inch iPad. This week the company introduced a 7.9 inch iPad mini instead. But new CEO Tim Cook says he agrees with Steve Jobs: There will never been a 7 inch iPad.

During today’s earnings call, Cook said the new iPad mini isn’t the same kind of compromised product he believes a 7 inch tablet would represent.

iPad mini

That’s because the iPad mini has a screen that’s about 35 percent larger than that on the Google Nexus 7, Amazon Kindle Fire, or other 7 inch tablets — even though it doesn’t actually have more pixels.

The iPad mini has 1024 x 768 pixels, which gives it the same resolution as the original iPad and the iPad 2. That’s good news if you want to ensure that the 275 thousand apps designed for iPads can run on the new tablet. But it seems a bit silly to claim that the larger screen makes the tablet significantly easier to use or better looking when Google’s tablet has a higher resolution 1280 x 800 pixel display and Barnes & Noble’s upcoming NOOK HD has an even higher resolution 7 inch, 1440 x 900 pixel display.

Oh yeah, both of those tablets also sell for $199, while the iPad mini is $329. Maybe that’s why Apple has no plans to make a 7 inch tablet. The company doesn’t want to compete on price, so why compete on size?

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11 replies on “Apple CEO Tim Cook says there will never be a 7 inch iPad”

  1. I’ve always disliked words like never and forever. These words make even less sense in a business context. They sound childish and naive.

    One of the benefits of a 7″ tablet is back-pocket portability. It’s the largest size (at 16:9) that can still fit in every back-pocket I’ve tried. This size provides an extra layer of hands free portability – allowing you to keep the unit with you instead of leaving it on a table or car when performing other tasks. Also enhances security because you’re not leaving it lying about.

    While I think it’s stupid for Tim Cook to make this statement, I hope they *never* produce a 7″ tablet. Serves them right to dismiss the portability advantages inherent in this size.

  2. “Oh yeah, both of those tablets also sell for $199, while the iPad mini is $329. ” Also, both of those tablets are sold at a loss/cost. Oh well, haters gonna hate.

  3. Whatever it will be, as an Android user I think that a 7,9″ screen is better than a 7″ screen if their containers have the same size. Hopefully Samsung and the like will take notice as Apple took notice of their success with this form factor.
    Resolution doesn’t matter much. The 800×480 screen of my SG2 is so much better to browse the web and watch videos than the retina display of the iphone 4.

  4. exactly, steve jobs while some kind of genius is full of shit. Else how do you explain sandpaper

  5. …”a 35% bigger screen doesn’t mean there will be more data/info on it”

    No, but it will be easier to read. Being over 40, I find it difficult to read a web page on the smaller 7 inch size. The iPad Mini in landscape mode displays text about the size the original iPad does in portrait mode, which works for me. I’m looking forward to trying the smaller, more portable iPad when it appears in stores.

    1. Don’t know about any browsers or the iOS operating system, but on Android devices you can dynamically adjust the font size.
      Bot the system’s in general, and in most browsers for it

  6. Also, a 35% bigger screen doesn’t mean there will be more data/info on it.
    The much lower res of the iPad mini takes away the increase in screen real estate argument.
    Actually you can see more of a web page on the N7!
    This is all BS.
    This is a 2010 specced product at an Apple price (i.e ridiculously overpriced).
    I actually think that this is their worst ripoff attmpt since a long time.
    65% more for a way poorer/lower specced device than the competiton, this is insane.
    But the ones to trully blame are the buyers of this crap.

  7. It seems Tim is taking what Steve said too literally. Is Apple going to release a 7.1″ or maybe a 6.7″ iPad in the future? Maybe he’s just trying to make excuses and that he’s not going against what Steve had originally planned for the iPad.

    1. Sounds like it to me. I think Tim Cook is just giving excuses and twisting words and meanings around to justify the iPad mini without admitting that they did this because of the success of the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. I’m still laughing at the idea that the iPad mini is a “concentrated” iPad not just a smaller iPad… Does anyone actually believe this?

      1. The iPad mini is a concentrated iPad 2. But it’s a diluted (and reduced) Retina iPad. 🙂

        That said, I’m not going to rule out the possibility of a future iPad Mini with a Retina display. If they want to compete in this space, Apple will need to up the ante on this thing.

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