Great piece by Rene Ritchie of iMore.com:
The minute Apple launches one hotly rumored device, be it the iPad Air or Retina iPad mini, a new rumored device races up to take its place in the mill. Enter a 13-inch “iPad Pro” – a concept that leapt to every geek’s mind the moment they heard Apple adopt that other MacBook brand. And since Apple’s already gone down in size, where’s left to go but up? Now I’m not so much interested in the rumor – there will always be rumors – but in how Apple could realize such an object. In how iOS could be scaled to that screen size, and what it would provide beyond the existing, 9.7-inch iPad, or the 11-inch or 13-inch MacBook Air.
After debating the ins and outs of how Apple might accomplish the iPad Pro, he concludes with:
Whether or not Apple will or even should make a 13-inch iPad Pro remains to be seen. Certainly a lot of artists, designers, photographers, maybe even gamers would love as big an iPad as Apple can provide. Regardless, increasing screen size is a painful thing. If Apple does indeed go to a 5-inch iPhone or a 13-inch iPad next year or at some point in the future, they’ll have to figure out the best way to handle it for them, for their customers, and for their developers. They may even have to re-visit the concept of how apps manifest on the screen. If and when they do, will it still be one step at a time? With the iPhone’s increase in size preface another increase in density? Will the iPad’s increase in density preface an increase in size? Or will Apple rip the resolution bandage off all at once?
No way I would be interested in that. For what I do with an iPad (and that’s a lot as it replaces my home computer for 90%) the current screen is more than sufficient. Stuff I do includes cutting videos and editing photos. But also using Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
For anything bigger I would go with a MacBook Air (if it finally gets Retina) or MacBook Pro … which shouldn’t be too much in price difference to a bigger iPad anyway.
Same is valid for the iPhone. I don’t mind if they squeeze out some space on the screen with a smaller bezel … but I never would buy a much bigger iPhone. For all the things I do with it, it’s still a phone. In case I want something bigger I would aim for an iPad mini.
But even then – the mini lost a lot of interest for me since the iPad Air. The mini would become of interest again if my need for a full computer grows and I use that one more. In that case a iPhone – iPad mini – MacBook combination could become an option.
So far I feel well with just the iPhone and iPad Air. Still thinking about the MacBook. But it’s a nice-too-have (and an expensive nice-to-have) so I still live with my old Windows Netbook … also its a rather unhappy relation 😉