Back in 2021, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed Apple was experimenting with extra-large iPads. At the time, he said that they were “a couple of years down the road”, so where are we, as we approach the final quarter of 2023?
Not much closer, it turns out. In the post-game Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reveals that Apple “got close” to releasing a 14-inch iPad this year, but ultimately decided against it.
That’s interesting, as at the start of the year, display analyst Ross Young stated he thought the jumbo tablet had either been “significantly delayed” or canceled entirely.
Either way, with Gurman separately adding that he doubts we’ll see “anything other than minor updates to the company’s other tablets” before the 2024 iPad Pro arrives, we can safely say that the jumbo tablet has been shelved for the foreseeable future, and won’t make an appearance at the upcoming Apple event.
In fact, part of the reasoning for this is apparently because of said iPad Pros. Apple is reportedly looking to transition to OLED displays, starting next year and the larger the tablet, the higher the cost involved — something that makes the 16-inch version mooted by The Information last year even less likely in the medium term.
It would be a bold time to release an untested and more expensive product, as the world grapples with inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. And on top of that, Apple might not want to risk cannibalizing the market for its 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with bigger iPads at this juncture.
Still, Apple will no doubt be watching Samsung closely. The company just released its Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra — the second iteration of its 14.6-inch tablet form factor, starting at $1,199 minus the $349 keyboard case. Bluntly, if Samsung can sell a giant, expensive tablet in significant numbers, it should be trivial for Apple to do the same given its complete dominance of the global marketplace.
There’s also one other competitor that Apple might be curious about as it mulls its future tablet plans — Amazon. Last year, the company released a 15-inch Echo Show, and while smart screens aren’t currently in the same category as Apple’s tablets, rumor has it that Apple is considering a dock to make its iPads double mimic the functionality, making them more akin to Google’s Pixel Tablet.
But, as Gurman says, significant changes to the iPad line are some way down the road, and we should probably focus on Apple’s upcoming event instead. On September 12, we’re expecting two sizes of iPhone 15, two iPhone 15 Pro models and the Apple Watch 9, which should give Apple fans plenty to chew over.
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