Apple was able to arrest the declining sales of the iPad for the most parts of last year after it launched the iPad Air 2 in October 2014.
From a total of 26.04 million units sold in the first quarter of 2014, Apple iPad sales dropped to 16.35 million devices in the second quarter, 13.28 million units in the third quarter, and 12.32 million devices in the last quarter, details Statista.
With the release of the iPad Air 2 however, sales began picking up again and by the first quarter of 2015, Apple iPad sales has hit 21.42 million units as of end-February.
The American tech giant hopes to sustain the resurgence of the iPad sales by planning to launch the bigger 12.9-inch iPad rumored to be called as iPad Pro, as a follow up to the good sales performance brought about by the iPad Air 2.
Delay in production
Initial reports indicated that the company was planning to start production of the Apple iPad Pro in the first half of 2015 but apparently, the company shall be pushing the schedule to September because of unforeseen delay in the supply of the display panels needed for the production of the larger iPads, cites Bloomberg.
The three likely providers of display panels to Apple for its larger iPad are Sharp Corporation, Japan Display, Inc., and LG Display Co.
Apple insiders revealed that the company actually intends to begin production of the larger version of the iPad in the first quarter of this year for possible launching and release to the retail market in the second quarter.
Now that the production has been delayed to September 2015, it is likely that the company will be launching the iPad Pro before the Holidays where it expects to generate good sales.
However, the delay has sidetracked Apple’s plan of sustaining the good sales performance of the iPad Air 2 with the possible early release of the iPad Pro to keep the momentum going. It would just be up to iPad Air 2 to hold the fort in terms of sales output while waiting for the production and release into the market of the iPad Pro.
Reinvigorating the iPad product line
The big-screen iPad Pro is actually part of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s initiatives, apart from the iPad Air 2, to arrest the sales decline of the iPad product lines for three consecutive quarters last year.
Aside from facing competition from a lot of tablets and phablets now available in the market, the iPads are also being challenged in terms of sales by Apple’s own iPhones. While the latest and larger iPhones launched in September last year have generated for Apple record sales, it has obviously eaten up on the market of the iPad product lines.
Apple is currently producing the 9.7-inch display iPad and iPad Air and the 7.9-inch screen iPad mini. Except for the reported display size of 12.9 inches, the company has not yet release any other details for the iPad Pro.