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.
Is Apple doing enough to keep you excited about its iPad division? Leave your comments below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
6 responses to “iPad sales could hit record low in 2017”
1 yr have passed since I decided to leave my previous job and that decision was a life changer for me… I started freelancing from my house, over a website I stumbled upon on-line, few hours /a day, and I make much more than i did on my office job… My last month paycheck was for Nine thousand dollars… Superb thing about it is the more time i got with my kids… URLIN.IT/143f7e
lol, they don’t need a better ipad they need a cheaper one. I had two larger ones, then got a mini 2 then a mini 4. The mini 4 screen shattered and the mini 2 touch layer went crazy. No real fix available but replacement. The mini 4 screen is ridiculously expensive to replace or repair. It also has “features” like the fingerprint reader that are not needed for most because they use them at home and is missing features like ram that means I use my android phone for web surfing because it’s faster and a better experience. I almost got the smaller pro but the cost for the ram and pen functionality at at least $200 too much. I want a 3gb ram mini with the pen ability. Also, charging $130 for GPS in a day where most people have tethering is crazy talk.
I ended up getting another mini 2 last month for $200. It isn’t perfect but covers most things for a reasonable price.
Well, it is no longer a first or a second iphone that people are getting…
The euphoria is gone. The new phone is now like a fourth or a fifth handset and doesn’t really do much more than the other ones did. All the apps are still the same and are just there with a promise of some kind of use but mostly taking space. Battery is still crap, siri still mostly sucks, google maps is still better and 90% of folks around you (poor schmucks on Android) still can’t be part of the iMessage so you keep using Whatsapp or Skype… what gives?
Amen – exactly right. Now that the tablet euphoria is over, people increasingly want to reduce the clutter – who needs a desktop, a laptop, a tablet and a phone?? With a surface you have a tablet, laptop and desktop in one device. Add a phone and bam, done.
This is the future – whoever owns that path will dominate.
Forgive me but people like me were telling pro-Apple sites like you a couple years ago that MS had the right strategy, and Apple’s unwillingness to offer a tablet with full functionality would be their eventual downfall. Fans at sites like this laughed at us, mocked us and jeered. Now, true to our prediction, Apple is attempting to tout their own refrigerator-toaster, but still has too much pride to admit that it should be a full-fledged computer so people can rely on one device. Again I say, that will be their downfall until they chuck their pride and admit this.
Haters, begin your jeering.
I still have my iPad2.
Works great after many years of use.