Mikey Campbell
Well-connected KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects Apple to launch three iPad models in 2017, including a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, while "revolutionary" changes like a radically redesigned chassis and AMOLED panel are in store for 2018.
Ming-Chi Kuo in a note to investors on Sunday, obtained by AppleInsider, said he expects iPad to follow a conservative hardware evolution going into 2017, with Apple preparing three next-generation models largely similar in design to existing units.
Along with a 12.9-inch "iPad Pro 2," the company will introduce a new 10.5-inch variant priced above a low-cost version of the 9.7-inch iPad, Kuo said. An Apple-designed "A10X" system-on-chip made using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's 10nm process is expected to power both the 12.9- and 10.5-inch models, the latter of which could find traction with commercial and education markets.
While not specified in today's note, the analyst suggests Apple's 10.5-inch iPad Pro will serve as a replacement for the venerable 9.7-inch form factor. Next year's low-cost 9.7-inch iPad is to carry over the A9X processor, also manufactured by TSMC. Apple's current 9.7-inch iPad Pro flagship runs the A9X, meaning the next-generation model should sport an "A10X" and debut in early 2018.
Despite hardware refreshes and the introduction of a 10.5-inch model, Kuo forecasts iPad sales to continue a downward slide until the product line is revamped in 2018. Riding a tailwind from the 9.7-inch iPad Pro release in April, Apple's tablet line eked out its best result in ten quarters during the third fiscal quarter of 2016, though overall sales are on a slump.
According to the analyst's latest predictions, Apple is working to reinvigorate its tablet series with a redesign set to debut in 2018. Kuo expects a flexible AMOLED panel to highlight a host of hardware upgrades, technology that could open the door to more intuitive, and therefore compelling, user interfaces. The company is thought to be following the same formula for iPhone. A number of industry insiders, Kuo among them, are forecasting Apple's move to an all-glass iPhone chassis with OLED screen in 2017.
With a dearth of new models launching in the second half of 2016, and increased competition from Chromebook in the education market, Kuo cut fiscal 2016 iPad shipment estimates from 45-50 million to 35-40 million units.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
71 Comments
I really wonder how a "more intuitive" user interface might look like. on the one hand iOS on a basic level is still the most intuitive user interface I've encountered and I still need to meet a person who did not grasp the basic UI more or less immediately.
OTOH over the releases iOS can do a lot more and this leads t a number of non obvious features. How specifically flexible display tech should enable a next "jump" in terms of usability I have no idea. Ok, you can depress the screen instead of having the screen emulate the physical action, you might have "real" keyboards etc. but that's nothing revolutionary in my eyes. Hm. Curious what will come.
This is excellent news. The 2017 iPhone and the 2018 iPad should finally minimize the blathering we've been hearing from critics. Apple knows what it's doing, and won't rush to be the first to get a product to market. They'll wait until it's done right.
These days at Apple, innovation means little more than variants.
i stopped holding my breath with the introduction of "new" products
Want a great iPhone? Just wait until 2017.
Want a great iPad. Just wait until 2018.
Want a Kaby Lake MacBook Pro? Just wait until... well... who knows when.
I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sick of playing the waiting game. And frankly, until Apple kicks out those promised devices (specifically, OLED tech), all that "blathering" a previous poster spoke of will continue in full force, and rightfully so. If Apple had those devices out now (which except perhaps for Kaby Lake is very possible, seeing other manufacturers have such tech), Apple would sell a huge amount (i.e., more than usual). But by delaying them for so long, our expectations grow higher and higher such that when they debut, our reaction, while still positive, is muted. And some people during that time go off and buy non-Apple products, which make it less likely they will be inclined to by those fancy new Apple devices.
I want to be wowed by Apple again. I don't want to be strung along playing the waiting game and then get let-down when it finally comes out because it's not so much better than anything else out there. This is Apple we're talking about. It should be possible to wow us if they really tried. Or are they so deluded that they think mediocrity will wow us?
I'd like to see the flexible AMOLED product elaborated upon. Right now it makes no sense.
And love how people want their product and they want it now. Real R&D takes time, people. Apple began touch-screen research in 2001 and released iPhone in mid-2007. That's 6 years. If there were no leaks from Asia, which is impossible now given Apple's size, no one would know about 2017-2018. Only difference is now we have some predictions. As for now let's wait and see what happens this year—I already have seen a few people call the 9.7" iPad Pro the best product Apple has ever made. Not bad to tide you over until an imagined future.