When Apple initially launched it’s iPhone & iPad lines many designers specifically targeted those device sizes in their website designs. This guide will help you understand how to make your site look it’s best when displayed on these samasitu.com devices.
I’d recommend first using responsive design techniques to try and pick breakpoints based on your content and not to a specific device, as sizes are always changing. For example when the navigation no longer works horizontally it should adapt.
If you know that a number of your users are on particular devices (or you’re designing for a use-case targeted at an iPad specifically) it makes sense to take extra consideration of their design sizes. The iPad screen size below will help you do this effectively.
Also check out my iPhone screen size guide
iPad Versions
There are three primary lines of the iPad that we will focus on:
iPad Mini
iPad Air & 9.7in iPad Pro – also includes original iPad line (e.g. iPad 4)
Large iPad Pro – larger 12.9in Pro
iPad Screen Measurements
There are a few different values to consider when looking at the iPad screen sizes. I’m going to get these values defined here so the chart below makes more sense:
iPad Display Size (inches)
This is diagonal measure of the screen, from corner to corner, just like you’d measure a TV.
iPad Screen Size (points)
These points are the size that the device is using for coordinates. If you’re designing for the web (using CSS or JavaScript) these values will be helpful. The iPad uses Retina screens which have a higher pixel density. This means they take the larger iPad resolution (mentioned below) and compress those pixels into a smaller space to make the image look sharper.