Apple is reportedly set to launch new iPad Pros in the first half of 2017, but that may not be enough to stop iPad demand slipping to its lowest level to a new record low, claims a new report.
Citing sources in the supply chain, the report claims that chip demand for the iPad has continued to slow, meaning that shipments of iPad devices for 2016 may struggle to hit 40 million units in total. And things are likely to get even worse.
Slower chip demand is bad news, particularly over the holiday season when the iPad has often been a swift seller for Apple — as evidenced by the fact that in previous years it has been a big hit over holidays like Thanksgiving, with Target once claiming to have sold one iPad per second.
According to the new report, coming from Digitimes (which, while having a poor record for product rumors, tends to be accurate when it comes to supply chain reports), Apple is unlikely to see growth in its iPad chip orders until 2018 when it does its next big product upgrade.
This chimes with what well-connected KGI Securities Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said. Kuo has suggested that iPad shipments will fall 10-20 percent on year in 2017, and that new devices are unlikely to be a big driver of growth in this area.
He also says that Apple will bring “revolutionary” changes to the iPad in 2018, including the adoption of AMOLED panels.
The next generation of iPads (the non-AMOLED ones) is expected to be announced as early as March 2017, which would be around the one-year anniversary of the smaller iPad Pro.
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