BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

What Happened To The 10.5-Inch iPad Pro? This Analyst Has An Answer

Following
This article is more than 6 years old.

Credit: Apple

The rumored 10.5-inch iPad Pro was a no-show this past week. But that doesn't mean it's not in the pipeline.

IHS Markit analyst Rhoda Alexander told me this week that she still expects the 10.5-inch iPad Pro to be released in the not-too-distant future, as she told me earlier this month.

"Indications are...10.5-inch iPad production is commencing this month. An April launch still looks somewhat tentative but the necessary elements are starting to come together," she told me in an email this week.

She continued. "The initial production is limited but Apple’s been known to do fairly fast ramp ups in the past. It’s also possible Apple could do a limited launch initially, adding countries as volume allows," she said.

As she stated previously, the 10.5-inch iPad is expected to stay the same size as the 9.7-inch iPad Pro because of a smaller bezel. The display resolution should go up a notch in order to maintain the same PPI or pixels per inch. And that would also likely require a tweak to the aspect ratio (the ratio of the width to the height of the screen), allowing Apple to keep the same outside dimensions.

Pricing is unknown but it could slot into where the current 9.7-inch iPad Pro is: $599, knocking the existing iPad Pro down to a lower pricing tier.

Real iPad hardware updates are due: A tweaked iPad Air 2 in the form of the 2017 iPad and more-storage-for-less on the iPad Mini does not constitute next-gen iPads. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro was announced way back in October 2015 (with no update since.) The 9.7-inch iPad Pro hasn't changed since March of last year. So, both products are due. At the very least, both Pro models are due for Apple's latest and greatest A10 processor.

But the $329 iPad (2017) and $399 128GB iPad Mini 4 makes sense: "It’s very interesting to look at how well they surf the supply chain," Alexander said speaking about the relatively static iPad lineup in the wake of this week's tepid hardware upgrades. Those announcements included the "new" 2017 iPad starting at $329 for 32GB for storage (A9 processor) and the cheaper iPad Mini 4 (A8 processor) reduced to $399 for the 128GB version.

"The longer they keep a product active the more opportunity there is to benefit from the component cost reductions over the product life-cycle, as well as allowing them to disperse development costs across more units. This is key to Apple’s profit strategy," she said.

"They shipped 4.6 million iPad mini’s in the fourth quarter. That’s pretty impressive for a product that was more than a year old at the time and at the top of the pricing for products of its size. Samsung is the only vendor that shipped more 'tablets' than Apple’s iPad minis alone in Q4 16."

Credit: Apple