Apple Launching Updated iPad Air in 2014, No 12.9-Inch iPad or New iPad Mini Until 2015

[rman0726]

Well, riddle me this Batman: Why would a highly paid analyst at a securities firm, who provides research to the firm and its wealthy clients, give it out to the great unwashed, gratis? Is he just that nice a guy?

There are more than just iPads and iPhones in the world? He figures that if he correctly predicts popular things like this, then maybe people will think he's smarter than the average analyst and use him for their actual investments. And it gets his name and firm out there to the masses.

Would you have heard of him if he didn't make iDevice predictions? No? Didn't think so.

 

[Jambalaya]

The iPad2 was retained as a lot of people have accessories needing the larger connector but sales have now died off. I personally think Apple with go with the Air 2 and Mini, progressive processor updates and released in Autumn as before, the "cheap" iPad will be dropped.

As for comments about Apple lagging, the sales figures don't say that. I personally have too much invested in Apple to even consider something non iOS/OSX, it's just not a consideration. Their products are high quality and have longevity (my 2009 Mini, and iPad1 are still in daily use)

 

[macchiato2009]

Ming Chi Kuo is an idiot

Apple will never end the iPad Mini

Macrumors should stop spreading rumors from this SB

 

[osofast240sx]

A 20 inch ipad pro with a hinge that closes and protects the screen, and when you open the hinge it has the screen and it has a built in bonus keyboard in the screen cover so you can type with a real keyboard. That would be nice.

Maybe add some USB 3 ports and a thunderbolt connection for downloading images from thumbdrives.

You are describing a MacBook air not a tablet

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Ming Chi Kuo is an idiot

Apple will never end the iPad Mini

Macrumors should stop spreading rumors from this SB

I agree the iPad mini is sort of a double dip for Apple. This is why I think Apple should put out a iPad Air non-retina.

 

[Renzatic]

Ming Chi Kuo is an idiot

Apple will never end the iPad Mini

Macrumors should stop spreading rumors from this SB

Where the hell in that article was it stated that Apple is ending the iPad Mini? All it said was that it might not get a refresh this year.

...which, when you consider the power behind the retina Mini, and it's general use case, wouldn't necessarily be all that terrible.

 

[fertilized-egg]

If he's accurate in the current predictions as he was with the January 2013 predictions, you can preorder your iPad Pro. Or rather, we can - you wouldn't know.

He wasn't really 100% accurate as you've portrayed. At that time he also predicted an Apple TV refresh (wrong), a Mac mini refresh (wrong), a new modified iPod Touch with 8GB and no camera (wrong on 8GB, correct on no camera).

Also last year he predicted iPhones shipments begin in July last year, with the iPad mini 2 in August but then changed to later days, even going so far to say there will be no new iPad mini in 2013, sounds familiar, doesn't it?

It's clear he has connections in Apple's suppliers and often does get accurate leaks in late states - not always of course. However for business decisions that can change relatively late in the game his prediction really isn't all that credible because things change constantly and Kuo doesn't really know things until he gets the wind Apple has placed massive orders. Maybe he's right but I see no reason to really take his words on the 12.9-inch iPad and new iPad mini not being released this year more seriously before.

This reminds me sometime last year Kuo also predicted a new cheaper non-Retina iPad mini will be released early 2014. I wonder if that'll actually happen.

 

[olowott]

good news....not good news

all i need is an grade form my iPad 2 to iPad Air 2

this shouldn't be had to obtain this year

 

[KeepCalmPeople]

So a company the size of Apple has to stop development of one top-seling product (iPad mini) to work on the next iteration of another top-selling product, and a new product.

I don't think so...

 

[JayCee842]

Misleading and click-bait title.

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Ming Chi Kuo is an idiot

Apple will never end the iPad Mini

Macrumors should stop spreading rumors from this SB

Do you lack reading comprehension?

 

[paulsdenton]

I would REALLY like a couple of those big iPads. My regular ipad seems smaller and smaller all the time.

 

[Breaking Good]

I don't even know why we listen to analysts. They make the same guess you and I would from knowledge on nothing more than reading websites I am sure. Whatever happened to Apple failing in 2014 and the Galaxy S4 selling so greatly. Neither happened. And in my opinion this guy is unreliable and just takes a shot in the dark guesses pretty much all the time. 50% of the time he's right. Which isn't hard. Here I'll make a few guesses. Apple will release the iPhone 6 with a 5 or slightly smaller screen and compete in the phablet market this year with a no bigger than 5.5 inch screen. Also do not expect an "iWatch" this year. Lastly I am thinking there will not be an iPad 4 rerelease considering there is an iPad mini non retina available for $299. There you go more reliable guesses from some one who is not a professional analyst but most likely will be right with more than 75% of them. The iWatch is my most shaky guess.

In general I am just as skeptical as you when it comes to analyst, but I've followed what this particular analyst has said in the past and he does have a track record of getting more things right than wrong.

I believe that Kuo acurately predicted the iPad 4 which broke Apple's cycle of introducing the iPad in the early Spring.

There was a great deal of buzz around the iPhone 5 and everyone was predicting the iPad mini. However since Apple had released the iPad 3 only six months earlier, no one, except Kuo, believed that Apple would update the full-sized iPad at the same time.

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Well, riddle me this Batman: Why would a highly paid analyst at a securities firm, who provides research to the firm and its wealthy clients, give it out to the great unwashed, gratis? Is he just that nice a guy?

Companies often market themselves in this manner. It gets their name out into the public.

There are quite a few professional service type firms that offer free Webcasts on topics they believe will be of interest to potential clients.

They will also put out various types of free publications.

People tend to trust names that they have heard of before as opposed to names that they haven't heard before.

 

[proline]

They recently re-started production of the iPhone 4 outside the US, so I wouldn't put it past them to do this.

No, they did not. iPhone 4 production has never ceased and Apple has always sold them in China, India, and other countries. There was a rumour that Apple would expand the list of countries, but Apple absolutely did not "restart production" of anything contrary to MacRumors poorly researched story that implied they did.

 

[Coolman717]

My prediction.

Larger iPod using the same screen as the larger iPhone-
becomes the new small iPad. Better profit margins for Apple as it uses iPhone screen.

I want a 12.9-inch iPad! Who enjoys pinching and zooming while looking at PDFs and magazines? Not me.

 

[theluggage]

Fixed that for ya.

Mysterious wisdom of the ancients bodes that Apple shalt probably updateth its most popular, high volume consumer products some three hundred, three score and five days (giveth or taketh a month) after they werest last updatethed.

I have sacrificed a mouse* and from the patterns in its entrails I predicteth that, wherein products were changed greatly in 2013 such an update definitely might be but trifling yet, wherest such products hath not seen a major update for several years then yea verily such changes might be-eth of greater magnitude.

From the alignment of the planets I deduceth that the predictions of some soothsayers of iPads of unusual size shall probably turneth out to be screens for the new Macbook Air after all, yet yet the i-ching tells that a great tablet shall arise and become the domain of the Followers of the Short Ruler of Adobe and be the cause of much despair in the realm of Cintiq (alas, the meaning of such words is not clear to me).

Sadly, I foreseeeth that nobody ist going to cross my palm with silver, as they wouldst do for an analyst, for these humble insights.

(* a computer one, don't worry - no small furry creatures were harmed)

 

[the8thark]

"No 12.9-Inch iPad or New iPad Mini Until 2015"
Who from Apple said this?

Rhetorical question. No one did. It's just rumour.

 

[Rettun1]

So basically what the iPad Air should have been.

Every iteration of technology is what the previous generation "should have been"

 

[Aetles]

And in my opinion this guy is unreliable and just takes a shot in the dark guesses pretty much all the time. 50% of the time he's right.

Is that based on actually tracking his predictions or are you just... you know, guessing?

 

[vomhorizon]

Is that based on actually tracking his predictions or are you just... you know, guessing?

Having a success rate of 50% is pretty darn impressive if you ask me..It would be tough to find anyone making more accurate predictions if that were his actual success rate..

 

[JPSaltzman]

And just how are you supposed to hold an iPad that large? With one hand while you swipe and type with the other? Good luck with that. The 9" iPad is already cumbersome, and its weight seems to bear down more on your arm the longer you hold it; it ends up seeming to weigh more than the MBA resting in your lap. At least with the MBA you have two free hands. With the iPad, you have one hand free. With a 13" iPad, both of your hands are holding it; there's no way to swipe or type. I suppose you could talk at it via Siri and/or dictation ("Open Angry Birds!") and really look like a candidate for the Funny Farm.

 

[Mal67]

1: How about launching an actual mac mini. You know the one.
2: I miss having a white apple computer. Seeing the silver grey air next to the white ipad mock up makes me think it would be nice to have a choice.

 

[Teste]

Those were very safe, generic predictions that many pundits were making. 90% of all rumors at that time were predicting exactly what he said.

Irrelevant. The great majority of his predictions were right. Ergo, if the current ones follow the same pattern, most of them are right as well. Ergo, again, the answer to the question "why even bother listening to this guy?" is - because he's more often than not right. Doesn't matter if everyone else is saying the same thing or not.

This is especially fitting for the current predictions. "Many pundits" have mentioned the iPad Pro, yet we still get many posts here claiming it won't happen. Yet, based on the past analysis, the fact this guy is saying it's coming means that yes, it's likely coming, just as he was right about the iPhone 5C and the iPad Air.

 

[wikiverse]

If you have 100 analysts posting pure guesswork, one of the hundred will by sheer luck have the best track record.

A genuine analyst will have a better track record because they will have contacts at Apple suppliers and can keep track of orders. They can also monitor shipping companies.

Apple isn't ordering 17" screens? You can infer that they are discontinuing the 17" laptop.

Apple has only 8MP cameras on order? The new phones will have an 8MP camera.

Kou seems to take that approach.

Other 'analysts' just look at gaps in the market and what competitors are doing and make guesses and wish lists.

 

[wizard]

Ok this is some good news. Just a spec bump.

How is this good news. Not that I believe a word of it but a IPad Mini without an A8 and a finger print sensor would be a mistake in my mind. A good alternative would be a n A7 with a huge clock rate boost. Either way iPads need more RAM. By the time Apple was done you will have a new device.

 

[Rogifan]

A genuine analyst will have a better track record because they will have contacts at Apple suppliers and can keep track of orders. They can also monitor shipping companies.

Apple isn't ordering 17" screens? You can infer that they are discontinuing the 17" laptop.

Apple has only 8MP cameras on order? The new phones will have an 8MP camera.

Kou seems to take that approach.

Other 'analysts' just look at gaps in the market and what competitors are doing and make guesses and wish lists.

How does Kuo know what Apple is/isn't ordering?

 

[wizard]

I agree RAM is a big issue.

No iPad Pro? Bad news... I'd certainly kill for a larger-screen iPad, assuming it has

- Wacom pen and
- windowed and/or dual-pane (as in Windows (RT) 8) multitasking

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Exactly. And it's been designed not to last long - read: it only has 1 GBytes of RAM, which is pathetically low for a Retina-screen 64-bit device.

I don't buy however that it was designed not to last long. Getting a 64 bit device out the door was a huge undertaking for Apple. Note that the competition has yet to deliver.

I look at the machine in the same way I look at the first iPad. It is a proof of concept machine. Apple is past the 64 bit hurdle so they can start looking at other features.

That is, it surely will be updated this year. Apple won't keep such a memory-constrained model on the market for long.

I agree with this thought, it would be a huge mistake for Apple to ignore the Mini. Especially when management has been saying for years that they don't intend to let this market get away from them.

In any event I agree 100% that more RAM is an imperative. In my case the paltry RAM and flash updates are why I still have an iPad 3! Excellent machine by the way.