Apple reportedly testing bigger iPad screens, on top of larger iPhones (but why?)

Is anybody really clamoring for a bigger iPad?

It’s not difficult to imagine that Apple is considering bigger screens for future iPhones — the 4-inch iPhone 5 seems downright tiny next to Android phones with 5-inch screens — but, for some reason, the company is also apparently looking into larger iPad screens, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Back in June, a Reuters report claimed Apple was looking into bigger iPhone screens around 4.7-inches and 5.7-inches.

At this point, Apple has no choice but to offer a bigger iPhone screen size next year (this year’s new iPhone is expected to stick with the iPhone 5’s size and basic design), but a bigger iPad seems less of a necessity. Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad rules the tablet world (a recent Chitika survey found the iPad accounted for 82 percent of all tablet web browsing), and the 7.9-inch iPad Mini is its answer to cheap and small Android tablets, its biggest tablet market threat.

I’ve also yet to come across a tablet larger than 10 inches that’s comfortable to use. A tablet is something you’ll be holding for extended periods, often with one hand. It doesn’t make much sense to pack in a big screen, which adds weight and often makes it hard to balance tablets one-handed. Even if someone manages to build a light large-screened tablet, it would still be too awkward to be easily portable.

Large, unwieldy screens were one of my biggest problems with Microsoft’s 10.6-inch Surface slates, and they’re a problem I’ve had consistently with hybrid laptop/tablets, like the 13.3-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga.

Apple, like most companies, tests out plenty of product designs that never see the light of day. I’m hoping the company looks beyond a larger iPad towards something more useful down the line.