According to Taiwanese component suppliers contacted by Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities, it is anticipated that in the coming year Apple will launch a 7 inch iPad which will have a host of innovative features; a camera, Retina Display, a micro or mini USB port and up to 128GB of storage whereas normally iPads have a limited memory of 64GB.
The existing iPad too has a USB slot but can only be connected through iPod-style 30-pin dock which restricts people to one add-on at a time. People would still require an adapter to connect most USB hardware, as asserted by White and analysts at Goldman Sachs.
Retina Display levels of pixel density may approximately entail 7 inches, for the purpose of being potentially expensive and deviating from the regular. The iPhone 4 and the fourth-generation iPod touch are currently the only two of the Apple devices to have the feature infused in them. Better resolution may balance the reduced screen size. But the report of the altered screen size hasn’t been confirmed yet.
White is however confident that the sales of the iPad will create new records in 2011.
“These numbers are well above our iPad forecasts of 3.8 million in the September quarter and 5.37 million in the December quarter, essentially this equates to 13 million units for the second-half of 2010 versus our forecast of 9.17 million units.” Says White