The iPad products launched by Apple this year are indeed not sincere enough. They did not even hold a press conference and were directly listed on the official website. There are not many product upgrades and the prices have increased across the board. For example, the starting price of the basic iPad is nearly 1,000 yuan more than the previous generation. However, it still has a non-fully-fitted full screen, a poor USB-C interface, and an A14 processor. It does not even support the second-generation Apple Pencil.
Recently, Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted that Apple is developing a new iPad mini. Its main selling point is a better processor, and shipments may begin as early as the 2023 holiday season, or it may be postponed to early 2024. It is not difficult to see from this tweet that the next-generation iPad mini is estimated to be the same as the M2 chip model iPad Pro released this year. It is mainly a processor. According to the release in 2023, there is a high probability that it will be equipped with an A16 processor. However, the high refresh rate that gamers are obsessed with, there is a high probability that it will not be available.
There are also rumors that Apple is working with panel manufacturers to develop a 10-inch foldable screen and use it to replace the existing iPad mini product line. Ming-Chi Kuo also responded to this, saying that he does not think Apple will replace the iPad mini with a folding screen iPad in 2025. This is because the price of the folding screen iPad should be significantly higher than the iPad mini, so such a replacement is unreasonable. Secondly, the new iPad mini will also be shipped in large quantities at the end of 2023 or the first quarter of 2024.
However, for Apple, it is indeed a more reasonable choice to launch the folding screen iPad first to test the waters instead of directly launching the folding screen iPhone , because is undoubtedly a relatively unimportant one in Apple's current product line. In its fourth fiscal quarter report of in fiscal year 2022, revenue from iPad was US$7.174 billion, compared with US$8.252 billion in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 13.06%, accounting for only 8% of Apple's total revenue in the quarter.
Therefore, even if the foldable iPad fails as an attempt, the negative impact on Apple will be far less than that of the foldable iPhone. Another reason is that the experience of a folding screen phone is closer to that of a tablet when it is unfolded, so it may be easier for Apple to build a folding screen based on a tablet.
Finally, it’s about the foldable iPad. Which product of the existing iPad can it replace? Among them, the basic iPad is positioned in the entry-level market, focusing on educational attributes; iPad Air is positioned in the mid-to-high-end market, focusing on popular entertainment; iPad Pro is positioned in the flagship market, focusing on productivity tools; iPad mini is positioned on the portable, focusing on mobile entertainment. Although the foldable screen iPad will far exceed the iPad mini in terms of price, but from the perspective of product attributes, it seems that the iPad mini is the most suitable to be replaced. What do you think?
