In accordance with the recent rumors regarding the launch of the new iPad 3 tablet, last evening those from DigiTimes announces that the iPad 3 tablet will be available on the market in the next 3-4 months. They claim that Apple's partners have already started delivering the components of the new tablet to the manufacturers and by March we should have the tablet available in stores. Since Apple is preparing the launch of the iPad 3, the company is reducing the stocks of components for the iPad 2 and in the first fiscal quarter of the year it will also reduce the number of manufactured products to empty its stocks before the launch of the new product.
Meanwhile, Foxconn Electronics will begin to produce the next-generation iPads in January and to ramp up the production volume starting February, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report, which quoted Kevin Chang, an analyst of Citigroup Global Markets, as indicating. Production of the new iPads is expected to reach 9.5-9.8 million units in the first quarter of 2012, estimated sources in the supply chain. Sales of iPad products totaled 25.06 million in the first three quarters of 2011 and are likely to reach 40 million units for all of 2011, the sources estimated.
The scenario presented by DigiTimes is in line with the one made by Apple last year and a launch in March is very possible. From the iPad 3, many people expect Retina Display, a thinner and perhaps lighter format, a quad-core processor and a changed iOS. I recommend that you don't expect too much from the new tablet in order to avoid another disappointment from Apple.
