Component Suppliers Say Apple Has Ordered Parts for 10 Million 'iPad Minis' in 4Q 2012

[samcraig]

The big reason the iPad 1 wasn't $800-$1000 is because the adoption rate wouldn't have been nearly as big as it was. For one thing - many people were trying to figure out what it could or would do and what the real benefits were. The iPad (albeit arguably) at the time it was introduced didn't really solve any problem people were actually having. You could argue netbook vs .... but when the iPad first came out - it was hardly a very productivity-based machine. That didn't come until a bit later. And even now - many people would argue that although things are much much better - there are still parity issues when working on documents on both the iPad and computers which make using the iPad not entirely productive.

$499 (to start) was low enough for many to take a chance knowing at the very least, they were getting a great media consumption device. For 800-1000 expectations would have been far far greater and the iPad would have failed (in my opinion) to win over customers at that price point when it was launched.

 

[azentropy]

no, you're wrong in this time. 7inch market has been already very competitive. there is no space apple could compete with them. the most important thing is price. if apple couldn't sell it $199 or $240, ipad mini will fail big just like apple TV. time is changed. it's not if apple do something, everything will be successful. ipad mini will fail. I am sure about this.

Funny how you say no to the list then spout off pretty much #8.

 

[JS82712]

Pricing (my guess)

$350 for 16 GB
$400 for 32GB

 

[iRobby]

249$

this price would be nice but they can't since the iPod Touch is starting at $299.00 why would someone buy an iPod Touch for more $ and get smaller screen?

If Apple planned on selling this iPad Mini at $249.00 they should've dropped the price on the 4th Generation iPod Touch to $199.00 32GB $299.00 64GB not $299.00 32GB and $399.00 64GB

 

[fredf]

I am sure the iPad Mini will be successful even at $299 (which is the likely price point).
However the market is going to wise up at some point.
The Kindle HD has a superior screen to the likely non retina Mini and a faster processor than the A5.

I know the ecosystem is better on Apples and I would personally pay a premium to keep all my devices within the iOS world.

However at some point all market leaders become complacent and stodgy. Perhaps we are seeing the beginning of this with Apple. It's likely to take several years to see what eventually happens but a $100 premium for a device with last year's technology.....hmmmm..

At $199, ok. But at $299 I think they owe the consumer a bit more.

Let's see what is announced next week.

 

[Cougarcat]

It will be interesting to:

1)See the price of the Mini
2)Compare its features and price to the iPod Touch



The cheapest Touch is now $299 which is ridiculous. The cheapest iPad is $499. I would expect Apple to price the Mini at $399...it has to be cheaper than the iPad to make people want to save the $$$ vs. the features lost yet more expensive than the Touch (which essentially is the iPhone and the iPad already minus 1-2 key hardware features).

Lastly, keeping this all in mind:

1)When would we expect to see a next iPad Regular? Is Apple going to have similarly named products yet different release cycles? If so, that seems confusing. If not, seems like people have to wait til Nov 2013 for new iPad Regular.

2)I would assume the iPad Regular doesn't drop in price next Nov 2013.

The touch did not get a price increase. The revised model now starts at 32 GB. I see no reason why a 16GB Mini with iPad 2-class parts couldn't come in at 249, which would be more expensive than the old 16 GB touch that Apple still sells.

I could see Apple making a minor bump to the iPad 3 this month with Lightning and the A6. But there's no way Apple is going to wait til next November to give it the A6, one way or the other.

 

[Keniutek]

Over here, what can I do for you?

Still sticking with Your statement?

 

[apolloa]

iProduct = quality. So yes, they can charge more. Kindle fire is made out of plastic, this will be made out of aluminum most likely, and feel, and look amazing.

Actually, EVERY review of the Fire HD has praised it's solid build quality, as well as it's very good Dolby speaker system.
It's not made of metal but I'm not so sure a metal iPad will be vastly superior either.

Now wait one minute, when did the Apple TV fail? I thought they sold 4 million last year.

When it was classed as the HOBBY product by Apple! And the constant year on year poor sales performance.

 

[Acorn]

the smaller ipad seems interesting to me but not for 399 dollars. Im not spending that kind of money on a 7 inch tablet. Im going to see apples cards and then see how it compares to the nexus 7.

 

[Navdakilla]

I hope they announce this bad boy next week. This is will amazing

 

[darkslide29]

The touch did not get a price increase. The revised model now starts at 32 GB. I see no reason why a 16GB Mini with iPad 2-class parts couldn't come in at 249, which would be more expensive than the old 16 GB touch that Apple still sells.

I could see Apple making a minor bump to the iPad 3 this month with Lightning and the A6. But there's no way Apple is going to wait til next November to give it the A6, one way or the other.

iPad usually gets its update in March-ish, not November.

 

[samcraig]

Actually, EVERY review of the Fire HD has praised it's solid build quality, as well as it's very good Dolby speaker system.
It's not made of metal but I'm not so sure a metal iPad will be vastly superior either.



When it was classed as the HOBBY product by Apple! And the constant year on year poor sales performance.

Apple TV - the $99 puck was created because it's a pain for people to hook up computers to their TVs in most cases. But more importantly - Apple was losing out to Netflix and other streaming services that were available on consoles (already hooked up to TVs) and even many "smart" TVs. The best/easiest solution was to create a "bridge" product to enable iTunes to be hooked up to a TV so that Apple could keep people inside their ecosystem.

I'm not discounting hardware when it comes to the iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, etc - but Apple, I believe, is more concerned with winning the ecosystem "war." They don't want people buying books, music, videos, tv shows, games, apps, etc from any other place than their store.

 

[george-brooks]

iHope - for retina display and A6.

iHope for a price under $400 and it aint gunna happen with that

 

[PJMAN2952]

I think by now we all know that the iPad Mini rumor is almost confirmed. I hope it is because I really want a smaller iPad. The current iPad is just too big and heavy.

 

[mantan]

The iPod touch comparisons don't make any sense to me.

They are talking about selling 10 million of these in the 4th quarter. That's literally 3-4 times what the iPT is going to sell.

The iPT is a niche device. It used to be a gateway to the Apple ecosystem for kids/tweens or for people who wanted a heavy media consumption device. But with the free on contact iPhone, those days have passed.

And for games, video, surfing, etc, an iPad mini will be the holiday gift of choice, not the iPod Touch.

 

[apolloa]

If you were wrong and they did sell it for $249 and it did sell for less than the iPod touch, hypothetically speaking, of course, I ask you, would you buy it?

No, because I live in the UK and I can almost guarantee it will still cost more then the Fire and Nexus 7. IF it cost the same then maybe I would. But I had a Chinese 7" tablet before running Android 4 and it was nice to have something different. I've had iPhones for a while.

 

[Skika]

this price would be nice but they can't since the iPod Touch is starting at $299.00 why would someone buy an iPod Touch for more $ and get smaller screen?

If Apple planned on selling this iPad Mini at $249.00 they should've dropped the price on the 4th Generation iPod Touch to $199.00 32GB $299.00 64GB not $299.00 32GB and $399.00 64GB

I really cant believe people are still using this argument. iPad and iPod touch are different products meant for different purposes.

 

[RobertMartens]

Still sticking with Your statement?

I predict Apple will introduce new and exciting products from time to time that will never be a scaled down version of something they already sell. Retina is the status quo, the iPhone has had it for two generations now, and the iPad for 6 months,

Are we really going back, I don't think so.

Most of all Apple is not motivated by competition. They don't check to see what the other guys are doing. (That mostly means looking in the rear view mirror) They just work on the things that interest them. That's it. Period. It is not being made in reaction to the tepid success of the Kindle or the Galaxy Tab.

So if a iPad Mini actually does come out. It will be filled with things we didn't imagine, and fill a void we didn't know we had.

 

[Ryth]

We still dont know the specs of the display. To say this won't have a retina display is just not accurate.

Why would Apple make a Retina iPhone and Retina iPad but the iPad mini in-between each doesn't have it....just doesn't make a lot of sense.

For those talking about the $299 price point vs the iPod Touch...they aren't the same product nor are they meant for the same purposes.

 

[apolloa]

Apple TV - the $99 puck was created because it's a pain for people to hook up computers to their TVs in most cases. But more importantly - Apple was losing out to Netflix and other streaming services that were available on consoles (already hooked up to TVs) and even many "smart" TVs. The best/easiest solution was to create a "bridge" product to enable iTunes to be hooked up to a TV so that Apple could keep people inside their ecosystem.

I'm not discounting hardware when it comes to the iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, etc - but Apple, I believe, is more concerned with winning the ecosystem "war." They don't want people buying books, music, videos, tv shows, games, apps, etc from any other place than their store.

As proved by the fact the News Stand app is totally locked into the iOS home screen! To me it's on the same level as the ads on the Kindle Fire, only you have no option to get rid of it.

 

[samcraig]

Except Apple Maps But maybe you meant hardware only....

I predict Apple will introduce new and exciting products from time to time that will never be a scaled down version of something they already sell. Retina is the status quo, the iPhone has had it for two generations now, and the iPad for 6 months,

Are we really going back, I don't think so.

Most of all Apple is not motivated by competition. They don't check to see what the other guys are doing. (That mostly means looking in the rear view mirror) They just work on the things that interest them. That's it. Period. It is not being made in reaction to the tepid success of the Kindle or the Galaxy Tab.

So if a iPad Mini actually does come out. It will be filled with things we didn't imagine, and fill a void we didn't know we had.

 

[Zunjine]

no, you're wrong in this time. 7inch market has been already very competitive. there is no space apple could compete with them. the most important thing is price. if apple couldn't sell it $199 or $240, ipad mini will fail big just like apple TV. time is changed. it's not if apple do something, everything will be successful. ipad mini will fail. I am sure about this.

From Wikipedia:

Apple TV (2nd generation)

The second generation sold 250,000 units in the first two weeks it was available. On December 21, 2010, Apple announced that they had sold 1 million units. In the second fiscal quarter of 2011, it had topped 2 million in total sales, with 820,000 sold in that quarter alone.

On January 24, 2012, Apple announced they had sold 1.4 million units in the first fiscal quarter of 2012.

Apple TV (3rd generation)

Tim Cook revealed at the All Things Digital conference in May 2012 that Apple had sold 2.7 million of the 3rd generation model in 2012.

A failure? I don't know about that. I'd say 1.4 million units in a single quarter is pretty good going. I think that's probably more units than any iPad competitor has sold in a quarter.

But, of course, even if you'd been right about the Apple TV being a failure (which you're not) that would be no reason to expect the iPad mini to fail. If Apple releases a smaller iPad that runs the same apps as the regular iPad they will sell millions or units. You can be sure of that. Apple wants to own the tablet market and there's nobody out there who can stop them right now.

 

[iSee]

249$

That's my best guess as well. Though at that price, I think they're going to need more than 10 million units for the Christmas season to meet demand.

 

[RobertMartens]

oops

 

[apolloa]

I will predict now just like I predicted the iPhone 5 would have a totally new more powerful next gen SOC despite all the nay sayers stating No WAY would an iPhone have a better SOC then an iPad!

So I will predict IF an iPad mini is launched it will cost AT LEAST from $349. I would actually proclaim they will ditch the iPad 2 and replace it with this mini. IF they launch one.