14 DAY TRIAL // A research note from KGI Securities suggests Apple has very few plans with the iPad lineup this year. According to a note form the company’s leading Apple analyst, the Cupertino giant will only upgrade the iPad Air.
There will not be a 13-inch iPad coming out of Cupertino this year, and the same goes for any upgraded iPad minis. It’s all going down in 2015, according to KGI Securities.
The iPad Air is the only Apple tablet getting an upgrade in 2014, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo assesses. Speaking on behalf of his firm, he relays the following to MacRumors:
“Compared with lower-margin iPad mini with Retina display, which shipments has been tepid, higher-margin iPad Air was a hot selling item in 4Q13, which will slow Apple in developing new iPad mini models.”
“We believe Apple plans to launch upgraded iPad Air early this year, and will accelerate development of 12.9” iPad. As such, more resources will be allocated to these two products, which will affect the progress of the development of new iPad mini.”
“All told, we think chances of the debut of a new iPad mini in 2H14 are slim. In addition, the 12.9” iPad is unlikely to be offered in 2014. For these reasons, we predict the only new iPad product in 2H14 will be the upgraded iPad Air.”
More interestingly, the analyst also said that “Apple has prioritized developing the operating system for the iWatch this year,” according to the same publication. The company plans to introduce the iWatch this year, but no definitive launch date has been set.
iWatch is believed to run a stripped down version of iOS, while iOS 8 will reportedly include a “Healthbook” application that will extract and interpret information from the sensors in the iWatch.