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Apple CEO: We Will Never Create a 7-Inch Tablet

By - Source: iMore

Steve Jobs had also insisted a 7-inch tablet wasn't a great idea.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has stressed that the firm will never create a 7-inch tablet. Late co-founder Steve Jobs had also stated that a tablet smaller than the original 9.7-inch iPad would be too uncomfortable for consumers, who apparently couldn't use their entire fingers to utilize the device.

Speaking during a conference call with investors, he said, "We would not make a 7-inch tablet. We don't think they're good products."

While the recently unveiled iPad Mini is a smaller tablet than the iPad 4, it still boasts a 7.9-inch display. The revised tablet is "in a whole different league," he said when referring to competition. The extra size of the device offers consumers considerably larger viewing area that isn't restricted and cramped like smaller devices such as Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD, the Apple executive said.

Its premium price, meanwhile, was also defended as Cook stated that the tablet is significantly less profitable than other products within its lineup. While Google's Nexus 7 has turned out to be a commercial success for the firm, it is reportedly planning a direct iPad competitor via a 10-inch Nexus tablet.

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There are 28 Comments. B
Top Comments
  • 31
    edgewood112358 , October 27, 2012 2:10 AM
    Yep... an extra 0.9 inches on the screen diameter puts the ipad Mini in an ENTIRELY different league than plain old 7 inch tablets... not. Face it apple, the ipad mini is overpriced and offers no advantage over other 7 inch tablets other than the apple software ecosystem (and maybe apple build quality).
  • 29
    wannabepro , October 27, 2012 2:08 AM
    Another Apple article.. This is like the 8th one today.
  • 20
    anonymous@guest , October 27, 2012 3:16 AM
    I wish I could go back to 1998 and experience the real Tomshardware again...
Other Comments
  • 29
    wannabepro , October 27, 2012 2:08 AM
    Another Apple article.. This is like the 8th one today.
  • 31
    edgewood112358 , October 27, 2012 2:10 AM
    Yep... an extra 0.9 inches on the screen diameter puts the ipad Mini in an ENTIRELY different league than plain old 7 inch tablets... not. Face it apple, the ipad mini is overpriced and offers no advantage over other 7 inch tablets other than the apple software ecosystem (and maybe apple build quality).
  • 5
    damianrobertjones , October 27, 2012 2:24 AM
    wannabeproAnother Apple article.. This is like the 8th one today.


    Yep and the Windows 8 articles are full of 10 year old kids with multiple accounts/changing account names slagging off a perfectly fine operating system. If it were not for the 'Charts' section I would not longer visit. It's becoming a joke
  • 15
    killerclick , October 27, 2012 2:30 AM
    freggoWill be interesting what screen resolution Google would offer on a 10" version.Like it or not, Apple did set the bar on that one with the iPad 3.

    It's been leaked, it's 2560x1600
  • 0
    azraa , October 27, 2012 2:43 AM
    Well, I despise Apple almost completely, but I think they have a point here.
    They point mainly to the higher end of the PRICE spectrum (dont get me wrong, their stuff is garbage for its price) and as so, they surely have little market for a wallet-concious, performance/usd-seeker client, for which, at this point, the Nexus7 is the clear winner.

    But he 7" mark is like the minimum for me (and I guess for the majority in this site). It serves its purposes just right, but when you are apple, and you point at a high price market, you have to make your product a premium (supposedly) and that goes along with size. Most of the other tablets in that price range never shrink, and rather, they are quite large. And I suppose we all like the status quo as it is.
  • 6
    spartanmk2 , October 27, 2012 2:44 AM
    I like apple and sumsung products, but i have no use for a tablet. (of any size)
  • -4
    spartanmk2 , October 27, 2012 2:45 AM
    Samsung, oops.
  • 20
    anonymous@guest , October 27, 2012 3:16 AM
    I wish I could go back to 1998 and experience the real Tomshardware again...
  • 17
    anonymous@guest , October 27, 2012 3:20 AM
    Tom's Apple
  • 18
    tipoo , October 27, 2012 3:27 AM
    Funny how they touted resolution over screen area while showing off the retina display, then when comparing the Mini to the N7 they switched over completely and forgot that the PPI is only 160 vs 220, showing off area vs resolution instead. And people ate it up.
  • -4
    Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer , October 27, 2012 3:40 AM
    In fairness...and it pains me to say this...if you do the math, the iPad Mini has a screen area of right about 30 inches. A 7", 16:10 tablet has a screen area of about 22". So, he has a point.

    On the other hand, 8", 1024x768 Android tablets have been around a while, so he's being pretty selective when he compares the iPad Mini to legitimately smaller 7" tablets.
  • 10
    Vladislaus , October 27, 2012 3:48 AM
    Tim Cook is trying hide the fact that the product he created goes against what Steve Jobs said. Steve Jobs didn't mentioned that only 7 inch tablets are too small. He mentioned 10 inch was the minimum size for a good tablet.
  • 3
    rosen380 , October 27, 2012 4:12 AM
    edgewood112358Yep... an extra 0.9 inches on the screen diameter puts the ipad Mini in an ENTIRELY different league than plain old 7 inch tablets... not. Face it apple, the ipad mini is overpriced and offers no advantage over other 7 inch tablets other than the apple software ecosystem (and maybe apple build quality).


    To be fair-- the difference is pretty big in terms of screen size.
    A 7.9" 4:3 screen is 6.32x4.74, 30 sq inches total
    A 7.0" 16:9 screen is 5.94x3.71, 22 square inches

    Despite it being only an increase of 0.9 inches, it adds 36% to the total size of the display. A 50" TV has about 40% more surface area than a 42" TV... I guess there isn't a difference there either.




  • 0
    rosen380 , October 27, 2012 4:14 AM
    Sorry, loaded the page a whiel ago, and didn't see the same point that Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer made...
  • 3
    shqtth , October 27, 2012 4:46 AM
    Just like how I will never buy another apple product.
  • 0
    shqtth , October 27, 2012 4:49 AM
    Yes its true Apple will never make an 7" tablet, they will make an overpriced 7" tablet for the iSheep. Who wants 0.9" longer wee wees since in life they lack that, but have extremely big egos because they think they are artists. ;) 
  • -1
    bllue , October 27, 2012 7:15 AM
    edgewood112358Yep... an extra 0.9 inches on the screen diameter puts the ipad Mini in an ENTIRELY different league than plain old 7 inch tablets... not. Face it apple, the ipad mini is overpriced and offers no advantage over other 7 inch tablets other than the apple software ecosystem (and maybe apple build quality).

    That extra 0.9 is just a weasel reason to charge more. It's pathetic.
  • 1
    halcyon , October 27, 2012 7:15 AM
    All I can say is it is a damned shame that all Android devices don't work as smoothly/fluidly as the SGS3. If they did it would be a different ball game. The SGS3 is the only Android device I've used (and I've owned and used several) that's as smooth as iOS. Samsung should really be proud of the SGS3. ...or maybe my Asus Transformer Pad Infinity is just not what it really should be...even with JellyBean. Perhaps the Nexus 7 is the definition of Android perfection that Apple is aiming for.
  • 0
    bim27142 , October 27, 2012 8:41 AM
    back in the old days, people don't complain about "pocketbooks" being small and they still read it... so for me, a 7" tablet is just like reading a pocketbook...

    honestly, i don't have any tablets and not even a smartphone (i guess i'm too old school huh) but when the time comes that i'm ready for it, i think i won't be getting no more than 7" as beyond that i already find it too big and too bulky to carry around...

    phones (smartphones) nowadays are getting bigger and "wider" when like 10~12 years ago smaller was more superior (nokia 8310, 8350, 6510, 6110, etc...). i miss those days, small, simple, functional (from a mobile "phone" perspective)...

    sadly nowadays, it's too high tech that all "gadget" features are all incorporated to a supposedly "mobile phone" device... smartphones it is but i guess i am still too dumb to use it... :D 
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