Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc., said his company has “big plans” for next year, leading some to believe that a larger iPhone 6 or possibly larger iPad “Pro” variant is in the works for next year.
“This holiday season, tens of millions of people around the world, from all walks of life, are experiencing Apple products for the first time. Those moments of surprise and delight are magical, and they’re all made possible by your hard work,” Cook wrote in an e-mail memo to employees, which was obtained by 9to5mac.com.
Cook added the new iOS 7 is an “extraordinarily ambitious project,” adding: “We extended our lead in the smartphone market with iPhone 5s; launched iOS 7, an extraordinarily ambitious project; released OS X Mavericks for free to our customers; introduced the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display; and this week began shipping the Mac Pro from a manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.”
A few blogs have speculated on Cook’s “big plan,” saying it could point to new products like the wearable iWatch or a larger-sized iPhone 6.
The iPad “Pro”--an allegedly larger variant of the popular tablet--has also been rumored to come out next year, and it would compete against Samsung’s Galaxy Note and Tab tablets.
According to a Taiwanese tech website, Digitimes, Apple is “rumored to be planning a larger size iPhone for May 2014.”
This rumor contradicts previous ones saying that the iPhone 6--or whatever it’s called--will come out in September or October 2014, which is when the latest iPhone models usually come out.
The website, which cites “sources from the upstream supply chain,” also stated that “Apple is rumored to release a 12.9-inch tablet in October 2014, targeting North America’s educational market.”
“With Samsung Electronics also reportedly planning to release 12- to 13-inch tablets, the sources believe these large-size tablets will greatly impact ultrabook demand,” it reads. “Apple’s large-size tablet will be manufactured by Quanta Computer, and was originally expected to adopt either 12.9- or 13.3-inch panels, with recent rumors indicating that 12.9-inch has a better chance to be picked, the sources noted.”
And reports this week suggested that Apple could use wrap-around display for its latest phones after the company patented a new, wrap-around display feature.
“Without a doubt, this patent application is one of the best of the year,” wrote Patently Apple.
It added: “The design would work by essentially leveraging the flexible OLED [organic light-emitting diode] screen tech we’ve previously seen with Samsung prototypes, protected by sapphire glass and wrapped around a LiquidMetal form factor. The patent, quite literally, represents three of the most cutting-edge construction materials for a future iPhone that one could image, based on existing tech.”
