Sometimes my dreams are just a mix of incoherent scenes, flashes devoid of any narrative or correlation. Sometimes there’s a rather strong narrative but the images are blurry, and this creates a fascinating atmosphere. I used to have dreams like these more often and some of them gave me plenty of inspiration for a few short stories I wrote back in the 1990s. Then there’s a third category of dream: a series of short scenes, but quite clear, detailed, and somewhat creepy because they feel very real. The other night I had such a dream, and it was about the iPad. 

I’ll come straight to the point: I dreamt that Apple introduced the iPad 3 and it met everybody’s expectations: 9.7 inch, Retina display (2048×1536 pixel resolution), faster processor, better cameras, more RAM, same battery performance as the iPad 2, flash storage updated to 32GB — 64GB — 128GB, and so on.

…And then, instead of leaving the iPad 2 around, Apple would introduce a 7‑inch iPad with the exact specs as the current iPad 2, at a slightly lower price point ($349 for the 16GB model). 

Yes, I told you I can have very detailed dreams. But the first thought I had when I woke up and remembered all this was that it would make sense for Apple to do something like this now. Think about it: on one side, such an iPad 3 would make for a great upgrade, especially for those with an iPad 1. The Retina display alone would probably push even more people to upgrade (I remember it was my only real reason to get an iPhone 4 in the first place), and combined with a faster processor and faster graphics would make the iPad 3 an even better gaming platform and probably a better eBook reader as well.

On the other side, a 7‑inch iPad ‘mini’ would still be a great option for many people (especially those who consider the current iPad to be too bulky), would compete with other tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Something and the Kindle Fire more closely, and, by retaining the iPad 2’s 1024×768 resolution but on a slightly smaller screen, it would probably look crisper than a 9.7‑inch iPad with the same resolution. With two iPad lines like these, what could go wrong? 

Of course, take this for what it is, nothing more than a very vivid dream I had that was fun to speculate about and share with you. It’d be grand if it came true, though.