Let’s face it, the world loves the iPad. With 15 million units sold in 2010, 2011 looks to be bigger than ever. Industry insider DigiTimes reported on Friday that Apple is still on track to produce and ship roughly 40 million tablets in 2011. With first quarter estimates in the neighborhood of 6.5 million iPads, let’s take a look at their complete forecast.
The life of an industry insider certainly has its fair share of perks. Notorious for unraveling Apple’s biggest secrets, DigiTimes has confirmed Apple ordered approximately two million iPads in January before beginning iPad 2 production. During this quarter, forecasts estimate another three million iPads to be shipped of the newer, second-generation model. In total, this brings us near the 6.5 million mark the site claims.
Production really gets wild in the second quarter when Apple will reportedly ship 10 to 12 million units. With a strong sales forecast, the second half of 2011 will add in another 21.5 to 24 million units for a grand total of 40 million iPads in 2011. With the strong competition from Android coming in the second half of 2011 these estimates might be a little overzealous, however rumors have surfaced that Apple might introduce the iPad 3 before year end.
Now that you’ve heard the numbers, how accurate do you expect the forecasts? CES 2011 was loaded with Android tablets. Given the iPad 2 pricing, can Apple continue to ship a tremendous volume of tablets in spite of lower cost competition?
via BGR
