For a long time, the history of Apple design has been making things smaller. The iPod birthed the iPod Mini and then the iPod Nano. The iPad led to the iPad Air and the iPad Mini. That’s not always the case – screens on iMacs have slowly grown up to 27″ – and there’s growing demand for a bigger iPhone – and a bigger iPad. Who from? Artists, illustrators and photographers could all benefit from the larger space, as could those who use the iPad principally as a home or work computer, and for whom the larger screen size is a decent trade off for the increased weight. The iPad Air has pointed the way, by making the original device smaller and lighter while preserving the screen size.

And what would a bigger iPad look like? Well, that’s what CURVED/labs has been exploring with their prototype images of this – currently entirely theoretical – device.

Notional iPad Pro specs

Here’s how the team think it might work:

• The iPad Pro design is pretty close to its siblings, the iPad mini Retina and iPad Air: curved corners and a flat back. Sound is provided from speakers that are placed either side of the Lightning connector.
• Touch ID is integrated in the sapphire glass-protected home button, which was introduced for iPhone 5s.
• The screen is 12.9 inch wide and has a 4K-resolution with 3,072×2,304 pixels (298 ppi), using LED-backlights and IPS-technology.
• Even though it’s wider, it’s still as thin as the iPad Air: 7.5 mm.
• The bigger screen with more pixels requires an A8 chipset with 64-bit-architecture.
• Apps for the iPad Air are shown optimized by the iPad Pro. Dedicated apps – labelled with “Pro” – use the higher resolution and performance of the all new iPad Pro.
• New styluses – called “pencils” –  may fully employ features like pressure sensitivity. But don’t hold your breath for a multi button pen made by Apple.

Right now, it’s all just a bit of fun – a thought exercise and an experiment in prototyping. But why wait for Apple to show us the future? Can’t we have a little speculation of our own?

Take a deeper look at a wider iPad