AppleInsider Staff
Sales of the non-Retina iPad mini may have nearly matched those of its higher-resolution sibling over the holidays as consumers chose the more diminutive tablet in equal proportions to Apple's full-size slates, according to a Friday report.
Apple is believed to have ordered just over 30 million iPad display panels in the holiday quarter, according to data compiled by supply chain watchers WitsView and reported by Digitimes. The company sold a record 27 million tablets over that period, with the nearly 4 million unit difference likely attributable to channel inventory.
Of those panels, 6 million are believed to have been for the first-generation iPad mini, 7.49 million for the iPad mini with Retina display, and 17 million for Apple's 9.7-inch iPads. The report does not differentiate between the new flagship iPad Air and the still-available iPad 2.
WitsView believes that Apple's iPad orders will drop to 25.8 million units in the second quarter of 2014. The company seems to anticipate a decline in first-generation iPad mini sales, ordering just 4.4 million panels for the tablet versus 7.4 millon for the Retina display-equipped variant and 14 million 9.7-inch panels.
Sales often dip in the first post-holiday quarter, though that forecast would still represent the iPad's second-strongest quarter ever.
David Schloss
Christine McKee
Amber Neely
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
Oliver Haslam
4 Comments
DigiTimes...'nuff said.
I stopped reading when I saw this:
"... supply chain watchers WitsView and reported by Digitimes."
Considering that everybody and their brother was running the original iPad Mini on a sale after Thanksgiving, I am surprised that the numbers weren't more in the non-retina iPad Mini's favor.
Not surprising, the mini is particularly attractive for those who have a laptop or an iPhone.
I got a BB Playbook (UGH, good hardware, but terrible software compared to iOS) a few years ago because I wanted a smaller iPad. Fortunately I have loaded several PB apps I need, but they are no longer being updated or available.
I've been waiting for the retina mini iPad.
I'm now about to get a mini iPad cellular as a family gift.
Eventually I'll trash the PB and get a mini iPad for myself.