8-inch iPad 4 Slated for 2012 - Supply Chain Chatter

Sources in Apple’s supply chain are hearing that Cupertino is “likely” to roll out a fourth iPad around the fourth quarter of 2012, boasting a 7.85-inch display.

The sources cited by Taiwanese trade publication Digitimes seem confident that Apple is poised to release not one, but two new iPad models next year - one scheduled to launch at the end of the first fiscal quarter, another prior to the fourth.

In usual manner, the Taiwanese site dishes out estimates for the next fiscal year. The sources also suggested that Apple has been ‘persuaded’ into building this 7.85-inch tablet because of pressure from competing companies like Amazon, which sells the 7-inch Kindle Fire.

Apple is securing 7.85-inch panels from LG Display and AU Optronics, and the makers in the supply chain are on track to begin production of the fourth iPad at the end of the second quarter of 2012, said the sources.