Next-Generation iPad and iPad Mini Rumored for March Launch

[MacRumors]

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White today released a new report highlighting some of his observations from this week's CES in Las Vegas, noting that "checks" at the show suggest that Apple is looking to launch the next-generation versions of the iPad and iPad mini in March.

Our checks at CES indicate Apple will release the iPad 5 and the second-generation iPad mini this March. The iPad 5 is expected to be lighter and thinner than the iPad 4 that was released in October, while the form factor of the iPad mini should be similar to the first generation iPad mini that debuted in October.

White's comments are in line with a previous report from Japanese blog Macotakara which claimed that a thinner and lighter fifth-generation iPad will be launching in March. RBC analyst Doug Freedman had also claimed that Apple was accelerating its plans for the second-generation iPad mini.

Apple has historically stuck to roughly year-long update cycles for its iOS devices, but the company surprised many observers by launching the fourth-generation iPad in October, just seven months after the debut of the third-generation model. It is unclear whether that shorter interval is the start of a trend for Apple, as it may simply have been a one-time event due to Apple's move to the new Lightning connector.

There have, however, been growing rumors of shorter update cycles being part of a new strategy for Apple as it seeks to remain competitive in the fast-moving mobile device market and smooth out its sales somewhat throughout the year.

Article Link: Next-Generation iPad and iPad Mini Rumored for March Launch

[mike423]

Yea Right.

I guess we all know iPad mini will get Retina.

[gpat]

Originally Posted by mike423

Yea Right.

I guess we all know iPad mini will get Retina.

You suuuuuure?

[ctdonath]

Originally Posted by gpat

You suuuuuure?

Methinks Retina is important to staying ahead of the competition. is pushing it thru the whole product line. While some people don't see/care the difference, enough do that it becomes a key point of superior quality. As production of such high-res displays ramps up, and with the CES introductions of 4K displays & GPUs, the entire product line will get that resolution. Even the mini.

Non-Retina is fast equating to low quality hardware.
There is no reason not to make the mini's display Retina.

[MacRumorUser]

Originally Posted by mike423

Yea Right.

I guess we all know iPad mini will get Retina.

However the company making the screens has reportedly said they wont be ready till Q3 2013, so if there is no Retina available for a March timeframe, what are they going to do with the mini. Bump its core specs to A6 & 1gb ram, when sales of the mini current show no signs of abating, so it would in many respects be a needless update for Apple.

[Want300]

I have an iPad 2... I skipped the 4th Gen waiting for the 5th... so I will be happy to see it in March.

[greg78x]

Originally Posted by Want300

I have an iPad 2... I skipped the 4th Gen waiting for the 5th... so I will be happy to see it in March.

I can understand why some people like to skip generations. Why bother upgrading if you're happy, right? However, there are a whole other large group of people waiting for people like us to sell our used apple products, and pay us good money for them!

I upgrade every other gen just because the resale value is so good with Apple. I'm amazed how much people pay for used iPhones and iPads. The upgrades almost pay for themselves!

[AppleMad98004]

Originally Posted by greg78x

I can understand why some people like to skip generations. Why bother upgrading if you're happy, right? However, there a whole other large group of people waiting for people like us to sell our used apple products, and pay us good money for them!

I upgrade every other gen just because the resale value is so good with Apple. I'm amazed how much people pay for used iPhones and iPads. The upgrades almost pay for themselves!

Exactly my friend.... Just sell your iPad 4 for good money and it will cover most of the new cost of the iPad 5 or whatever you want.

Apple needs the latest technology in their products or they get left behind. Us long time Mac users know that from the 1990's and early 2000's. Now the are on top of their game.

[rhinosrcool]

Originally Posted by greg78x

I can understand why some people like to skip generations. Why bother upgrading if you're happy, right? However, there are a whole other large group of people waiting for people like us to sell our used apple products, and pay us good money for them!

I upgrade every other gen just because the resale value is so good with Apple. I'm amazed how much people pay for used iPhones and iPads. The upgrades almost pay for themselves!

Well, I am waiting for many to sell their 1st gen Minii's. However, I believe that they will sell for a lot less than retail, and possibly, refurbs (when they arrive). So many, from gifts alone, will want to dump it. Also, even though they knew it didn't have a retina screen, there is the larger group that bought it and will sell (especially, if the new one has retina). It will be a buyer's market!!!

[TrentS]

I'll probably save my money and wait til the iPad update that will have a 3D screen ( without wearing 3D glasses ) and will be waterproof. And maybe by then the camera will be a 16 MP, with a tripod screw mount, and the screen will double as a flatbed scanner.

[schmidt65]

The cellular ipad mini was only released at the start of December, and it's still a 2 week wait until shipping on apple.com. Yet they are now proposing to release the ipad mini 2 in 2 months time? Even the ipad 4 cellular was only released at the end of November! Updates this quick will kill momentum, not help it.

Crazy

[apolloa]

Why do people get so upset? Frankly your either crazy, have too much money or are a serious fan if you willingly drop $500 every 6 months for no reason.
The only thing Apple can do that is right in March is give the Mini a Retina screen and A6 SOC and then make the full iPad lighter, it doesn't really need to be thinner IMO.

[fiddlestyx]

If this is the case, it'll make me regret updating my first gen iPad in November.

Oh well, at least it gets the job done for what I need it to do - gotta think positive, right?

[n8236]

I don't think the quickened product cycle should surprise anyone. Is it a divergence from Apple's norm? Yes. But they've now been forced to change that due to competition. I LIKE IT!

Here's why I think it will happen.

1. They're no longer the only player in this arena as other competitors have accelerated their product cycle release times due to newer/better components.

2. Sales of their products start to drop off rather quickly past halfway thru the 12 month cycle. Half year cycles will refresh their products nicely and keep a good level of people buying.

3. Apple no longer have revolutionary features others can't copy. If what I observed is correct, it appears their competitors have put Apple on edge w/ their new features/functions.

In the past, it was about capturing customer base (and was ez due to weak competition), but now it's about expanding it even more while retaining what's already captured.

Asus, Samsung, Google, Windows, etc etc...even if their cycle times were 1 yr, the fact that there are so many competitors, it feels more like product cycles of 3 months!

IPAD MINI RETINA! GO GO!

[StoneJack]

Its just moving from annual to semiannual release schedule for ipads:

March - October cycle

it shows accelerating competition in this field and also the strength of Apple in logistics, making that possible. Also want to avoid the pick and fall demand scenario when one can't buy at launch and will not buy at end, continuing for whole year.

Wondering if that will be true for iPhone 5. Then we should embrace new iPhone 6 before or at June WWDC.

[thelookingglass]

Originally Posted by n8236

I don't think the quickened product cycle should surprise anyone. Is it a divergence from Apple's norm? Yes. But they've now been forced to change that due to competition. I LIKE IT!

Here's why I think it will happen.

1. They're no longer the only player in this arena as other competitors have accelerated their product cycle release times due to newer/better components.

2. Sales of their products start to drop off rather quickly past halfway thru the 12 month cycle. Half year cycles will refresh their products nicely and keep a good level of people buying.

3. Apple no longer have revolutionary features others can't copy. If what I observed is correct, it appears their competitors have put Apple on edge w/ their new features/functions.

In the past, it was about capturing customer base (and was ez due to weak competition), but now it's about expanding it even more while retaining what's already captured.

Asus, Samsung, Google, Windows, etc etc...even if their cycle times were 1 yr, the fact that there are so many competitors, it feels more like product cycles of 3 months!

IPAD MINI RETINA! GO GO!

Forced to change due to competition? They still have the lion's share of the tablet market and it's not because competitors can't produce good hardware, it's that developers aren't willing to develop comparable quality apps for a platform where no money can be made and which suffers from severe fragmentation.

You don't beat the competition by increasing the number of incremental upgrades you make a year. You beat them by continuous innovation and by making your ecosystem sticky. Shortening product cycles to every six months would be ridiculous. Meaningful hardware upgrades, like chipset advances, take more than six months to implement.

[irDigital0l]

Originally Posted by thelookingglass

You don't beat the competition by increasing the number of incremental upgrades you make a year. You beat them by continuous innovation and by making your ecosystem sticky. Shortening product cycles to every six months would be ridiculous. Meaningful hardware upgrades, like chipset advances, take more than six months to implement.

If only Apple would do that now.

[n8236]

Originally Posted by thelookingglass

Forced to change due to competition? They still have the lion's share of the tablet market and it's not because competitors can't produce good hardware, it's that developers aren't willing to develop comparable quality apps for a platform where no money can be made and which suffers from severe fragmentation.

You don't beat the competition by increasing the number of incremental upgrades you make a year. You beat them by continuous innovation and by making your ecosystem sticky. Shortening product cycles to every six months would be ridiculous. Meaningful hardware upgrades, like chipset advances, take more than six months to implement.

You have a point.

But "meaningful" upgrades are hard to come by, even by a year's standard. The iPhone is a perfect example. The 3GS and 4S was obviously a middle-of-the-road product compared to their 3G and 4 brothers.

Having the lion's share means you have to protect your owned territory even more. Having the largest share, you have the most to LOSE, not gain. Gaining market share is the hard part and keeping it is even harder. Sure, Google and whoever is throwing the kitchen sink to see how many % they can grab and no one can deny how well Android is doing. All competitors have to do is copy your product and sprinkle a function here and a feature there to grab some land from Apple.

[zombierunner]

I think it's cool that apple is making more than 1 ipad in a year .. It doesn't make anything obsolete .... I hope the new ipad mini has a6 at least ... Don't do an ipad 3 which was ipad 2 + retina

[stringent]

What would be sensible in my book

Drop the 2 from the iPad 2 and have iPad and iPad with Retina display. Maybe give it a speed bump so it keeps up processor wise, keep the display/cameras the same and add lightning so its now across all current products. Do whatever they want with the retina display redesign, lighter, thinner, normal Apple upgrades. Or even keep the 4th Gen for now.

Then have iPad Mini and iPad Mini with retina display. Makes sense. Lower end and higher end of the Apple market with no compromise of 'cheap' products.

[HurryKayne]

Originally Posted by mike423

Yea Right.

I guess we all know iPad mini will get Retina.

And A6? Retina and 64 poliphony voices..sweet

[canyonblue737]

Originally Posted by mike423

Yea Right.

I guess we all know iPad mini will get Retina.

If both iPads go to. 6 month revision schedule you should plan on the March revision being an all new flagship iPad "5" with thinner form factor and a spec bumped iPad mini with an A6 processor and 1 GB of memory AND NO RETINA. Then in fall the iPad 5 will get a spec bump to an A7X etc. while the mini will get retina. Retina will NOT come to the mini in spring.

[GorgonPhone]

Originally Posted by mike423

Yea Right.

I guess we all know iPad mini will get Retina.

apple thinks that small but frequent product "upgrade" is the way to maximize profits.. but that only bores consumers and burns them out..

[DesertEagle]

Originally Posted by GorgonPhone

apple thinks that small but frequent product "upgrade" is the way to maximize profits.. but that only bores consumers and burns them out..

But it still maximizes the profits for Apple, doesn't it?

[GorgonPhone]

Originally Posted by DesertEagle

But it still maximizes the profits for Apple, doesn't it?

yes but it kills/brand the product over time..