A research analyst claims that Apple will unveil a
7.85-inch iPad Mini with 8GB of memory in October.
Fresh off the heels of Google’s own 7-inch tablet,
new rumors are still firing about the same-sized iPad. Pacific Crest analyst
Andy Hargreaves suggests that the 7.85-inch iPad Mini will debut in Q4.
“We anticipate an entry-level 7.80-inch iPad with
8GB of NAND capacity to price at $299 with an initial gross margin of 31%,”
wrote Hargreaves, in a research note posted last Thursday.
Hargreaves went on to claim that the iPad Mini will
probably cannibalize some of the larger iPad sales. Hargreaves told CNET that Apple would most likely kill off the $399 iPad 2
to make way for a 16GB iPad Mini.
“We estimate Apple will sell 10.0 million 7.85-inch
iPads in FQ1 (Dec. 2012) and 35.2 million in all of F2013,” he said. “Based on
estimated component order volume, we believe our iPad Mini unit estimates are
well within Apple’s production capacity. We anticipate 25% cannibalization of
the larger 9.7-inch iPad (for every four 7.85-inch iPads added, we reduced our
9.7-inch iPad estimate by one), so our total F2013 iPad estimate increases to
91.6 million from 65.2 million.”
Rumors of a smaller iPad started circulating when
Tim Cook took the reins as Apple CEO. Cook’s predecessor, the late Steve Jobs,
famously had a dim view of the 7-inch form factor.
In recent months, TabTimes has learned
that Apple has reportedly been testing a 7.85-inch iPad at its offices in Cupertino, while
other sources (including Samsung) have claimed that the device could pop up as early
as September.
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