Barclays analysts think a new 7-inch iPad is on the way this year, according to their latest note.
Here's what they say:
Following up on comments made last week, recent research still leads us to believe that Apple may be planning to add another form factor to its iPad line in the 7" range for the fall. We believe that this type of product could be useful in promoting Apple's agenda in education with e-textbooks. Also, the form factor could make sense in gaming, which could become a bigger platform for Apple over time. We do not feel that a smaller, lower priced tablet will dilute the quality of the iPad brand and iOS ecosystem either, despite prior comments by the company. Rather, we view a smaller, lower priced iPad as a necessary entry point to make the tablet market the size of the PC market by 2015 in terms of units (over 350 million units) - a figure CEO Tim Cook repeatedly mentions. We believe the 10" iPad may be a source of upside in our model over the next two quarters.
It sounds like they're just regurgitating the rumors we've been hearing for weeks now though. Don't take it as fact.
