Monday, February 17, 2014

Analyst: No iPad 12.9-inch "iPad Pro" Until 2015, this Year Just Updated iPad Air


New report from KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Apple may be preparing to introduce only an upgraded iPad Air in 2014 and will likely delay the release of the large sceen 12.9-inch ''iPad Pro'' and newer iPad mini until next year.

The upgraded iPad that features an A8 processor, and Touch ID fingerprint sensor will be the new iPad version that Apple introduces this year. The report also claims that the company focuses on shifting its resources from the Retina iPad Mini towards developing the larger iPad "iPad Pro". kuo estimates the debut of iPad 12.9-inch will be in earlier 2015 or late this year with limited supply.
Compared with lower-margin iPad mini with Retina display, which shipments has been tepid, higher-margin iPad Air was a hot selling item in 4Q13, which will slow Apple in developing new iPad mini models. We believe Apple plans to launch upgraded iPad Air early this year, and will accelerate development of 12.9” iPad. As such, more resources will be allocated to these two products, which will affect the progress of the development of new iPad mini. All told, we think chances of the debut of a new iPad mini in 2H14 are slim. In addition, the 12.9” iPad is unlikely to be offered in 2014. For these reasons, we predict the only new iPad product in 2H14 will be the upgraded iPad Air.
As is well known Apple is working on a wearable device "iWatch" which Apple plans to release this year, it seems the company gives the iWacht operating system the priority over other devices as the report noted. However as Kuo states that the 12.9-inch iPad will act as a driver in allowing developers to create more interactive apps for a bigger screen. Also He expect Apple to restart production of the iPad 4 in Q1 2014 as it looks to wind down the production of iPad 2. Overall, the analyst predicts the iPad shipments to fall from 34 million units in Q1 2013 to below 30 million units in Q1 2014.

It has been widely speculated that Apple will launch a bigger iPad "iPad Pro" later this year. Kuo stated earlier before the release of iPad Air that the sixth-generation iPad would contain a 30-40% higher pixel density instead of a bigger screen.


Source: via MacRumors

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