Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities is at it again, this time with news regarding Apple’s upcoming iPad Mini. Only thing is, it may not be upcoming for a while.
It’s long been assumed that the iPad Mini will get the Retina Display treatment, but now comes word that poor yields during the manufacturing process will delay the iPad Mini 2 rollout until October of this year. Indeed, remember that during Apple’s earnings conference call that Apple CEO Tim Cook siad that Apple had a lot of exciting new products in the pipeline for Fall 2013 and into 2014.
AppleInsider notes:
Because of those rumored production issues, Kuo suggested that Apple might introduce a more affordable iPad mini in the interim to help boost sales and fend off low-priced tablet competitors. He sees a low-cost iPad mini being priced between $199 and $249.
In his eyes, Apple could take a number of approaches to reducing the cost of building an iPad mini. His proposed options include removing the rear camera, reducing internal storage to 8 gigabytes, simplifying production of the metal casing, or using a more advanced process to build the A5 processor.
As for the full-size 9.7-inch iPad, Kuo still expects that Apple will launch a fifth-generation model with a redesigned frame akin to the iPad mini this fall. But he doesn’t expect that sales of the full-size iPad will increase dramatically, because the device does not offer a different user experience from the iPad mini.
