Just when the rumor mill was poised to start churning out reports of thinner, lighter, more powerful iPads, Apple had to go and throw a big bucket of cold water on our hopes for a spring refresh. Instead of teasing us with an invitation to a press event, Apple rather unceremoniously added a top-of-the-line model to the existing catalogue, likely signaling at least six more months of the current design.
The 128GB iPad, available today at Apple.com, is a little like the Verizon iPhone 4. Also released in early February, it gave Apple an excuse to push back the launch of the iPhone from June to September. Although the larger-capacity iPad is far more of a niche product — don't expect any constraints with this model — it seems as though Apple's using this new model to stem any rumor-induced see-saws in sales, while also aligning all of its iOS devices for an autumn release party.
While the launches will likely be staggered like last year, positioning all four models for an annual, semi-simultaneous refresh is a bold move for Apple. For one, consumers might be a little less willing to buy a new iPhone and iPad when they see the combined bill; for another, comparisons will inevitably be made over design, with critics complaining about the weight of this or the thickness of that.
And this is where Apple's design guru comes into play. When Tim Cook tasked Jony Ive with guiding the "direction for Human Interface across the company" in October, he placed an enormous amount of responsibility in the design guru's hands. With complete creative control over the fit, finish and feel of every iDevice Apple makes, Ive is in a unique position to bring an even greater sense of focus and uniformity to the line.
All similar, yet all extremely different — for now
With the exception of the home button, the iPhone and iPad have never shared much in the way of case design. That changed somewhat last year with the iPad mini's diamond-cut beveled edge, slate/silver aluminum enclosure and stray-touch technology that allows it to sport such a skinny side bezel.
Everyone expects the iPad to undergo its first wholesale redesign to bring it up to code with the mini, but I think Jony Ive will move to make the iPhone more mini-like, too, if not this year, then certainly with iPhone 6. There's a certain similarity between all of the iOS devices already, but a clean, universal design aesthetic would tie everything together beautifully, much like the aluminum-and-black Macs.
Once you've used a retina display, it's very hard to go back to anything less. No one knows this more than Ive, but for a variety of reasons — battery life and price paramount among them — the iPad mini sports a screen that's sub-par in pixel density. Now that Ive is in charge of iOS 7 — I'll save my thoughts on that for a future column — he's going to want everything to look as crisp as possible, and that means retina for the mini. Ive's designs have always extended beyond mere aesthetics, and I assume there's a 326 PPI mini prototype sitting in his lab just waiting for the OK from Tim Cook.
You may have read about Apple working on something called iPhone Math, a 4.9-inch handset positioned as a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy and Note. Besides the wonky name — which has largely been debunked as a mistranslation of iPhone Plus — it all adds up to a very viable rumor. Instapaper creator Marco Arment wrote in some depth about where the Plus would fit in the iOS lineup, and his diagram has it neatly sliding between the iPhone and the mini. It makes perfect sense, and I absolutely believe Apple is exploring this as an option.
But I think Ive has one more thing up his sleeve. Instead of the usual paring down of the previous models, I think there will be a new 3.5-inch iPhone that fills the low-end demand and follows the same design aesthetic. If Apple can afford to sell the steel-and-glass iPhone 4 for free, it can certainly build a new aluminum model that fits in with the rest of the line and eliminates the need to keep the older models around.
Find Michael Simon on Twitter or App.net @morlium.
