Apple is said to have worked on a 7in iPad, although the device may never ship. The Daring Fireball’s John Gruber claimed that Apple is currently testing a 7.85in iPad during a podcast with The Talk Show.
Gruber said sources had told them that Apple “have one in the lab,” describing it as ”just like the 9.7in iPad shrunk down a little bit.” (More below...)
However, Gruber noted that the product may never ship.
There have been many rumours about a 7in iPad over the years, despite the fact that Apple’s late-CEO Steve Jobs said that he didn’t believe it would be a suitable size. Jobs discounted the seven-inch tablet form factor as "only 45 percent as large as a 10-inch screen.”
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Aryugaetu said on Thu, 05 Apr 2012
It confounds me how these people are allowed to spew complete misinformation and obvious technical errors... and still get a paycheck.
First, iPads and iPods (and most portable display devices) are measured diagonally, much like a TV.
Second, a 7" iPad would be closer in size to the current iPad cut in half.
Such a device would be too large to put in your pocket, and just as awkward to carry as the full sized iPad, but it wouldn't have the traditional size of a piece of paper, book or magazine.
The iPad and iPod Touch have very well-defined purposes and markets. A smaller iPad would do neither one well.
It makes no sense to spend the time and money to completely redesign a device that awkwardly sits between two popular existing devices, and doesn't have its own clearly defined market.
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