People may talk about tablet sales flatlining, but if earnings of iPad parts makers are anything to go by, Tim Cook was absolutely right when he called this year’s sales lull a mere “speed bump.”
Casetek Holdings, aka the Pegatron subsidiary responsible for constructing the iPad chassis, has announced impressive revenues of 108.22 million for September: an increase of 21.25 percent on month and 16.48 percent on year.
According to a new report from Digitimes, this growth is the result of shipments for Apple’s eagerly anticipated next-generation iPads, set to be unveiled Thursday.
With “strong demand” expected for the devices, market watchers are predicting Casetek’s revenue performance in Q4 to increase significantly. It’s also reported that the Pegatron division, which additionally works on MacBook products, could soon enter the iPhone supply chain. Pegatron is responsible for building the iPhone 6, while rival company Foxconn works on the iPhone 6 Plus.
Digitimes also claims Casetek recently purchased another 500 CNC machines to help land additional orders from Apple. CNC machining is a process used in the manufacturing sector that involves the use of computers to control machine tools, such as lathes, mills, routers and grinders. It is expected that as of early 2015 the company will have a total of around 7,000 CNC machines.
The iPad Air 2 is expected to include an anti-reflective coating, slimmer design, Touch ID, Apple Pay, recessed volume buttons, refined speaker grills and gold color options. While many expect a new iPad mini to be unveiled this Thursday, some reports have suggested Apple may hold off on it until 2015 to differentiate it from the iPhone 6 Plus.
We also expect to see a Retina iMac debut October 16 to go along with the public release of OS X Yosemite.
