London, July 5 (ANI): Software giant Apple will be launching a smaller, 7 iPad in time for Christmas, sources have claimed.

The new model, which will have a screen that is 7 inches to 8 inches diagonally, less than the current 9.7-inch version, is expected to set up a battle between Apple's iPad, Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7 tablet.

According to The Telegraph, the 7 iPad is unlikely to have the retina display high definition screen of the full-size version, but may have the same number of pixels as the iPad 2.

Apple is also expected to announce new products in October, including a new iPhone.

While, smaller tablets, such as Amazon's Kindle Fire, have been sold well by focusing on media consumption, such as books, TV and film bought direct from Amazon, Google is hoping that its tablet, at 159 pounds, will appeal to a similar market.

The tablet market, despite Apple's huge success with the iPad, is still regarded as full of opportunities for new players and is expected to grow to 66.4 billion dollars this year. Apple currently has 61 per cent of the market.

As well as the 7 devices from Google and Amazon, Microsoft is also focusing on a new tablet, called Surface, which will be sold when it releases Windows 8 in October. (ANI)