Apple Is Preparing A Mysterious Product For Next Year That Might Be A Giant iPad, Or A Laptop (Or Both?)

While the Apple rumor mill has largely focused on an Apple television, and the iWatch, there seems to be another product close to release from Apple that's getting less attention.

Apple is manufacturing a 12.9-inch screen for a big iPad that will be released next year, Kim Yoo-chul at The Korea Times reports, citing an official at an Apple supplier in Korea.

This isn't the first time we've heard about Apple doing an "iPad Pro" type device.

It's somewhat hard to believe Apple would make a bigger iPad, though. The iPad Mini seems to be getting all the love from reviewers, and it looks like it could outsell the larger iPad Air.

It's possible the official at the Korean manufacturer is mistaken about what the display will be used for. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously reported Apple was preparing a new laptop that will redefine laptops much like the MacBook Air redefined laptops. These displays could be used for the new laptops.

Or, maybe Apple is doing both. Maybe it's going to make some sort of iPad-MacBook hybrid. This seems highly unlikely since Apple CEO Tim Cook has derided Microsoft's strategy with the Surface tablet many times.

Most recently, when Apple revealed its new iPads, Cook said, "Our competition is confused. They're turning tablets into PCs and PCs into tablets. Who knows what they're going to do next?"

Apple has made the iPad a mobile-only device with purpose built applications. Microsoft has tried to make the Surface a tablet-laptop hybrid that can be used for both tablet activities and more rigorous work-like applications.

In the past, Cook said of this type of convergence: "You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator," but it doesn't mean you should, or that it will produce a good product.

Saying one thing and then doing another is sort of a tradition at Apple, so it's possible Cook was just giving a headfake with his trash talking.

Regardless, if we had to guess, we'd say the first major new product from Apple in 2014 is going to be this thing, whatever it turns out to be.