Cupertino-based Apple is not yielding the market to its rival, even for gadgets where it has no products yet such as the megapad. To address the challenges from surface tablets of Microsoft and Android, the company is expected to launch in November its iPad Pro tablet.
The megapad is speculated to have a 12.9-inch pressure sensitive screen and new Bluetooth stylus, based on leaked images, reports Daily Mail. The display will have the same feature as the upcoming iPhone 6.
But it seems the large-screen format is still a relatively new market for Apple and the firm is still testing the waters for this kind of device, so the company placed a relative low order for it, according to Digitimes. Apple's supplier is expected to deliver the components for the megapad in the middle of September in time for a mid-November release, likely to catch holiday shoppers seeking high-tech toys as Christmas presents.
Macrumors names the overseas manufacturer as Foxconn, based on the Digitimes report. But Macrumors acknowledged the Taiwanese portal's hit-and-miss record, so it advised readers to take that information with a grain of salt.
Meanwhile, AppleInsider cited a person familiar with the device that it would possibly include an NFC radio so that the device could be used as payment receiving terminal for Apple Pay, not as a tap-to-pay device, considered by Apple observers as unlikely.
While the release date appears tentative, IHS market analyst Rhoda Alexander pointed to inputs from both component and product side that the iPad Pro is a real product and part of Apple's 2015 building plan.
Other speculated features of the large device, based on a Weibo post, are that it would weigh 700 grams, have a USB C-port and an 11,000 mAh battery.