Suppliers to ship Apple 5M iPad 2 touch sensors in July as demand continues
Consumer demand for the iPad 2 has shown no signs of slowing down, as component suppliers are reportedly set to ship 5 million touch sensors to Apple this month.
That number would match the total number of touch sensors suppliers shipped to Apple in June, according to DigiTimes. The Taiwanese industry publication reported the number on Tuesday, citing sources in Apple's supply chain.
In June, TPK Holding and Wintek were said to have each shipped between 1.4 million and 1.6 million touch panel units to Apple. The remaining supply reportedly came from Cando, Sintek Photronic and Chimei Innolux.
Chimei Innolux first began supplying touch sensors to Apple in June after it recently began the development of such hardware. Chimei is now a one-stop shop for panel production and touchscreen components, even offering assembly through a partnership with Foxonn.
Apple struggled to meet demand for the iPad 2 when it first went on sale in March. But in the subsequent months, Apple has added a number of additional component suppliers and constraints have been minimized.
With enough touch panels to build 5 million iPad 2 units this month, Apple would be well on its way to shipping a forecasted 14 million units of it touchscreen tablet next quarter. Last week, DigiTimes said suppliers believed Apple would ship between 7 million and 9 million iPad 2 units this quarter, increasing to between 12 million and 14 million next quarter.
For comparison, Apple shipped 4.69 million total iPads in the March quarter. That number, affected by constraints during the launch window, was considered by Wall Street to be a mild disappointment.
That number would match the total number of touch sensors suppliers shipped to Apple in June, according to DigiTimes. The Taiwanese industry publication reported the number on Tuesday, citing sources in Apple's supply chain.
In June, TPK Holding and Wintek were said to have each shipped between 1.4 million and 1.6 million touch panel units to Apple. The remaining supply reportedly came from Cando, Sintek Photronic and Chimei Innolux.
Chimei Innolux first began supplying touch sensors to Apple in June after it recently began the development of such hardware. Chimei is now a one-stop shop for panel production and touchscreen components, even offering assembly through a partnership with Foxonn.
Apple struggled to meet demand for the iPad 2 when it first went on sale in March. But in the subsequent months, Apple has added a number of additional component suppliers and constraints have been minimized.
With enough touch panels to build 5 million iPad 2 units this month, Apple would be well on its way to shipping a forecasted 14 million units of it touchscreen tablet next quarter. Last week, DigiTimes said suppliers believed Apple would ship between 7 million and 9 million iPad 2 units this quarter, increasing to between 12 million and 14 million next quarter.
For comparison, Apple shipped 4.69 million total iPads in the March quarter. That number, affected by constraints during the launch window, was considered by Wall Street to be a mild disappointment.
Comments
Consumer demand for the iPad 2 has shown no signs of slowing down, as component suppliers are reportedly set to ship 5 million touch sensors to Apple this month.
I believe it. The Koreans continue to line up by the dozens every morning at Christina Mall's Apple Store to buy their full allotment and ship them out. I thought iPad was in full supply now but that they're still being lined up for tells me no, and Apple can make more of them.
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/...t-1125547.html
I predict 60 million iPads sold in 2011. Amazing when you think about it.
They probably did around 10mil in the first half of the year, so they'd have to ship 50mil in the second half. Assume that next month they're shipping 5mil, that would leave 45mil units in 5 months, so they'd have to up the next month to 7mil.
If they stay at 5 mil a month for 2 months, they'd need to average 10mil a month for the rest of the year.
I'd say 40mil is plausible though.
It is very obvious that it is a whole lot harder to copy Apple's products than most companies thought, other than an obvious copy (cough, Samsung).
And once Apple finally gets the courts to protect their Patents, there will be no way to beat them.
Also, Apple still has a lot of stuff up their sleeves.
It is just so many things that they have on their table or plate. You can only stretch Jonny Ive's imagination so far for the new designs.
They probably did around 10mil in the first half of the year, so they'd have to ship 50mil in the second half. Assume that next month they're shipping 5mil, that would leave 45mil units in 5 months, so they'd have to up the next month to 7mil.
If they stay at 5 mil a month for 2 months, they'd need to average 10mil a month for the rest of the year.
I'd say 40mil is plausible though.
If they are doing 5M in June and July as some of the rumors suggests then 60 seems on target if we consider less sales at the beginning of the year and countering with more sales near the end of the year for the Holiday shopping season.
Apple sold almost 5 million iPads for the first quarter of the calendar year with the iPad 1 coming to an end and the iPad 2 production ramping up so I don't think we can expect a flat 5 Million for it's first full quarter.
I believe it. The Koreans continue to line up by the dozens every morning at Christina Mall's Apple Store to buy their full allotment and ship them out. I thought iPad was in full supply now but that they're still being lined up for tells me no, and Apple can make more of them.
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/...t-1125547.html
I saw the line when I went to that Apple store last weekend. It's insane that after all these months there are still lines for iPads.
I am kinda thinking that Apple is gonna start slowing down their new phones, pads and even Macs to a two year release cycle. That is after this years release.
It is very obvious that it is a whole lot harder to copy Apple's products than most companies thought, other than an obvious copy (cough, Samsung).
And once Apple finally gets the courts to protect their Patents, there will be no way to beat them.
Also, Apple still has a lot of stuff up their sleeves.
It is just so many things that they have on their table or plate. You can only stretch Jonny Ive's imagination so far for the new designs.
Macs and even iPods can go down to a 2 year cycle because both brands are very mature but the iPhone and iPad aren't mature and set enough in their perspective markets to be able to afford 2 year model cycles.
If they are doing 5M in June and July as some of the rumors suggests then 60 seems on target if we consider less sales at the beginning of the year and countering with more sales near the end of the year for the Holiday shopping season.
That's production numbers not sales, and it may well already include inventory building for the holidays. 5mil per month production would deliver 60mil over a full year, but they don't have a full year of that. Unless they can get productiion up to around 10million per month by September or October at the lastest they can't hit 60mil this year- and that just seems impossible.
That's production numbers not sales, and it may well already include inventory building for the holidays. 5mil per month production would deliver 60mil over a full year, but they don't have a full year of that. Unless they can get productiion up to around 10million per month by September or October at the lastest they can't hit 60mil this year- and that just seems impossible.
You think there is evidence to suggest that they can't sell as many as they can make?
You think there is evidence to suggest that they can't sell as many as they can make?
There's no evidence yet that they can meet demand, but then there's no evidence yet that 5mil per month wouldn't. They only just stepped up to that, it will only now be hitting sales channels. But that's all kinda besides the point, because there's a simpler way to think about this.
Either you believe that Apple will sell more iPads over the Christmas period than at other times or you don't. Your previous post indicated you did. If you expect them to have a strong seasonal variation (as they do for iPods), then they have to overstock in the preceding months. The chance that they can ramp up supply to 5mil per month now, and then to 10 mil per month in October is just unreasonable. Even Apple can't ramp an entire supply chain at that speed.
We don't even know if they're making 5mil iPads per month yet, we only know they're taking delivery of 5mil touch sensors - there are other possible component bottlenecks such as the screen and the processor. They may be locking up supply of the touch sensors in order to lock Amazon et al out of the Q4 market completely.
As to iPad they aren't as far ahead as some would like to believe though iOS 5 and iCloud will keep them out front for awhile. What is more important with iPad is to keep moving the internal technology forward, in some ways performance could be better. Getting to 32/22nm will go a long way to improving the IPads performance.
By the way in part here I'm talking about battery performance. However iPad will need a significant boost in GPU power to drive the rumored high resolution screens.
In any event a big no to two year update cycles. For most of Apples hardware it would open them to far more effective competition.
< . . > iPad will need a significant boost in GPU power to drive the rumored high resolution screens.
Edit: Yes to the rest of your post, but:
You realists here
I await schooling on this issue. It's obvious to me that Apple will put out a retina-like screen as soon as they possibly can economically, never mind update schedules or what the competition is doing. As blackbook said, and NebulaClash on Macrumors was another, they are carving out a new computing paradigm, or 'market' if you look at it narrowly. They have to do what Microsoft and the IBM platform did in the eighties: stake out a territory for the future and make everybody else catch up. If they can. Apple never did back then, had to wait for Jobs II, Ive, OS X and Intel. Now I doubt anyone can catch them, because they have driven that early lesson deep into the organization. Own the hardware, the software and the ecosystem, invent the future.
They can't sit around for a year just because they've always had a yearly update schedule.
But they still lost me by pulling Final Cut. Now I'm no longer pulling for them so much.
Update: I see that Gruber has linked today to a Philip Elmer-DeWitt piece that links to a 5by5 podcast with Dan Benjamin and Horace Dediu and a Quora discussion (whew) on just this subject, but with the emphasis on how Apple can own the future by financing future production technology, with their huge cash reserve. Don't miss, if you like big strategy:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/...a-monopsonist/
And here's the very interesting Quora post:
http://www.quora.com/What-would-make...answers/612608
My prediction of 40 million several months ago seems achievable by the end of Q4 on Apple's calendar year.
Which would be Dec 31.
The 1st calendar quarter was 5 million. The 2nd calendar quarter probably hit 3 million a month. That's 12 million for the quarter.
So 5 + 12 + 30 = 47 million.
Now I think the 5 million a month is Apple still ramping up, so although some panels will be used for replacement units and what not, I think 5 million a month sell through is possible for Apple for the rest of the year, hitting 6 or 7 million by the end of the year.
So my prediction for iPads sold in 2011 is now between 45 million to 50 million. 60 million is a bit of a stretch, I concede.
My prediction of 40 million several months ago seems achievable by the end of Q4 on Apple's calendar year.
Which would be Dec 31.
Yeah we should be looking at no less than 40 million iPad 1 & 2 sold throughout calendar 2011.