Apple, the prominent American tech giant, has reportedly announced its plan to launch a foldable iPad as soon as next year, cites analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Kuo tweeted that he is confident about the release of the foldable iPad in 2024 and anticipates this new model would raise sales and boost the product mix. He also believes that this launch will be followed by a redesigned iPad Mini, which will go into mass production by early 2024.
Apparently, the speculated foldable iPad will reportedly have a carbon fiber kickstand made by the Chinese component supplier, Anjie Technology.
Surprisingly, a 2024 release date is much earlier than the latest noteworthy foldable iPad projection, made by Ross Young, a Display Supply Chain Consultant analyst, in February 2022. He claimed that Apple is working on a foldable iPad/MacBook hybrid with an approximately 20-inch folding display, but that it will not be available until 2026.
For the record, this is not the first time Kuo has posted a deadline to an Apple foldable forecast as two years ago he had notified that a foldable iPhone would debut in 2023. However, it appears that this would be a considerably more compact device with a screen between 7.5 and 8 inches in size.
Apple has reportedly explored selling a foldable gadget with a screen equal to the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max.
It is almost difficult to imagine a foldable iPhone debuting in 2023, as Kuo originally projected, given the dearth of recent speculations regarding one.
In the near future, Kuo forecasts a 10% to 15% year-over-year decline in iPad sales in 2023. A drop in tablet sales this year will not be all that unexpected given the boost in sales most consumer electronics businesses saw during the COVID lockdowns and the declines that have occurred since.
Furthermore, Kuo anticipates that the next iPad released by Apple will be the iPad Mini. Following its most recent update in 2021, he predicts a new model will go into production within Q1 of 2024.
Source credit: https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/30/23577407/apple-ipad-foldable-analyst-ming-chi-kuo-2024-release-date