New 12.9-inch iPad Rumored To Be Released Early Next Year

Korea Times report that Apple’s display supplier is building a 12.9-inch Retina display for the new iPad, which will provide an almost-UHD resolution. The interesting information is the source claiming that the new iPad will arrive in early 2014. It is not a surprise that Apple wishes to release iPads with bigger screens, given the competition from rivals such as Samsung and LG.

“Apple’s local first-tier display supplier is now producing a 12.9-inch Retina Display to be used in the new iPad, which will be coming out sometime early next year,” an official at a local Apple supplier in Korea stated. “The 12.9-inch iPad will have improved picture quality. As the Apple partner intends to boost its lineup for displays that have almost ultra high-definition (UHD) quality, the upcoming iPad will provide very clear quality similar to that of UHD,”

The official said Apple is increasingly interested in introducing bigger iPads as the U.S.-based consumer electronics giant is already acknowledging that tablets will replace PCs in an era of convergence. This step comes after Samsung Electronics recently said it aims to become the world’s biggest tablet supplier to build on its achievement in smartphones.

Officials at the Korea Display Industry Association (KDIA) said Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics, is developing OLED displays sized over 10 inches and 13 inches to be used in Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy-branded tablets next year.

“By diversifying its tablet lineup, Samsung plans to significantly narrow differences with Apple in the race. Samsung believes it also can dethrone Apple in tablets as it did in smartphones,” said an official at Samsung Electronics.”

Strategy Analytics (SA), a market research firm, said Samsung sold 10 million tablets between July and September, which helped it grab a 20.2% market share. For the first nine months of this year, Samsung sold 28 million tablets.

Thank you Korea Times for providing us with this information