Is Apple really coming out with a foldable iPad?

As per Ming-Chi Kuo, a Supply chain analyst, Apple could launch a foldable iPad as soon as the next year. Kuo anticipates that it will be joined by a redesigned iPad Mini, which will go into large-scale production in the initial days of 2024.

Kuo didn’t reveal much new information about the rumoured iPad foldable, but he did say it will have a carbon fibre kickstand manufactured by Chinese component producer Anjie Technology.

“I’m positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model will boost shipments and improve the product mix,” he tweeted.

Source: theverge.com

A 2024 launch date is much sooner than the most notable foldable iPad estimation, made by Ross Young who is a Display Supply Chain Consultant analyst last February. He claimed that Apple is working on a foldable iPad/MacBook combination with an approximately 20-inch foldable display, however, it will not be released until 2026.

Afterwards, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed that Apple is looking into a dual-screen foldable, with the bottom half of the screen serving as a virtual keyboard whenever the gadget is utilized as a MacBook-style carrying case.

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Gurman did not provide a specifically planned release estimation but did say in October that Apple’s folding iPad could arrive eventually a bit late in the decade.

This is not the first occasion where Kuo has placed a timeline on an Apple foldable prediction. About two years ago, he predicted a foldable iPhone would be available in 2023.

However, it appears that this gadget will be much smaller, with a display size of 7.5 to 8 inches. Gurman even claims that Apple has addressed the release of a foldable device having a display size roughly comparable to the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Considering the recent absence of rumours about a foldable iPhone, it’s difficult to envision it launching in 2023, as Kuo predicted previously.

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Shortly, Kuo predicts a decline in iPad deliveries of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent year on year in 2023. Given the increase in sales appreciated by most customer technology firms amid the covid shutdowns, as well as the declines many have recently suffered, a drop in tablet deliveries this year would not be surprising.

Finally, Kuo predicts that Apple’s next iPad will be the iPad Mini. He anticipates that a new model will go into manufacturing in the first quarter of 2024, following its last refresh in 2021.