Apple is allocating resources to develop iPad products to Vietnam, Nikkei reported on December 8, citing sources knowledgeable about this issue.
Nikkei said Apple is cooperating with BYD (China), an important iPad assembler, to transfer new product introduction (NPI) resources to Vietnam. This is the first time Apple has transferred NPI resources to Vietnam for such a purpose with a core device.
The company said the technical verification process for iPad trial production begins around mid-February 2024 and the model will be available on the market in the second half of next year.
Apple and BYD did not immediately respond when Reuters asked for comment.
Other Apple suppliers, including Foxconn and Luxshare, also invest in Vietnam to further diversify production outside of China.
NPI requires significant resources from both the technology firm and its suppliers, such as skilled engineers and lab equipment to test new features.
Apple also plans to send some NPI processes for the iPhone to India, Nikkei reported.
According to data from market research firm IDC (Singapore), Apple is the world’s largest tablet manufacturer, accounting for 36.6% of the market share in the first three quarters of 2023.
Ivan Lam, technology analyst at market research firm Counterpoint Research, said: “Vietnam has always played an important and strategic role in manufacturing, holding a central position and has the ability to become one of the next production factories around the world”.
According to Ivan Lam, Apple’s recent supply chain map has proven that Vietnam is capable of producing iPads and expanding the scale of assembly of this tablet.
Previously, AirPods, Apple Watch and MacBook, three other Apple products, were produced in Vietnam.
On December 6, Bloomberg reported that Apple plans to release two updated iPads and a MacBook Air using faster M3 chips in early 2024 to cope with the decline in sales of these devices, citing people familiar with the matter. with this problem.
According to Bloomberg, the new iPad Air will come in two sizes for the first time, while the new iPad Pro model will be equipped with an OLED screen. Bloomberg reports that the MacBook Air will come with a faster M3 processor designed in-house by Apple.
Apple has faced a multi-quarter decline in Mac and iPad sales, which account for nearly 15% of the company’s revenue, as inflation and high borrowing costs forced consumers to limit non-essential purchases. .
Last month, Apple issued a holiday quarter sales forecast that was lower than Wall Street estimates due to weak demand for iPads and wearables. Meanwhile, its Mac business is struggling with a sharper decline in the personal computer market.
Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, told analysts that the current fourth quarter of 2023 sales, which includes the Christmas holiday period, is when Apple typically has the most sales of new iPhone models. , will be similar to the previous year, disappointing many investors. While Wall Street has predicted that Apple’s sales in the fourth quarter of 2023 will increase 4.97% to 122.98 billion USD.
Bloomberg said the new iPads are expected to launch around the end of March 2024 and the company is researching improved versions of Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard accessories for the new iPad Pro model.
Apple is working on an improved iPad Pro next year as it aims to revive the struggling tablet market. This iPad Pro is going through its first major overhaul in half a decade. The iPad category in particular and the entire tablet market in general are in a state of decline.
The iPad was once seen as a potential successor to the Mac, but it now generates the least revenue among Apple’s major segments.
Like desktops and laptops, tablet sales have declined since the COVID-19 outbreak. Nearly every major manufacturer is suffering a decline, including Samsung Electronics and Lenovo Group.
Consumers don’t have much of an urgent need to buy a tablet (or upgrade their old, well-functioning tablet). More consumers are buying larger-screen smartphones in recent years, making tablets even less necessary.
Apple failed to solve the problem with the right decisions. There have been a number of moves that make consumers hesitant to spend money to buy an iPad:
– Recent iPad updates have been particularly minor. The most attractive new model in years is the low-end 10th generation iPad launched in October 2022. The iPad Pro hasn’t had a groundbreaking update since the current design launched in 2018, and the iPad mini hasn’t had a refresh in two years.
– Troublesome product categories. Anyone who tries to compare iPads on Apple’s website is faced with a confusing array of models and generations. Consider the 11-inch iPad Pro and iPad Air, which are similar in size and appearance. Because the 11-inch iPad Pro has ProMotion display technology, LiDAR scanner, M2 chip, and second camera, it costs $200 more than the iPad Air. However, those features are probably not attractive enough to convince most consumers.
– Apple is also competing with itself, thanks to improvements in its Mac product line. After switching to in-house chips, Mac computers have become more durable and more cost-effective. They last longer and are faster, eliminating the need to use an iPad in some cases
– The approach to iPad software continues to be confusing. The Stage Manager app, designed to make multitasking easier, remains difficult to use. Apple has been reluctant to bring more Mac-like functionality to the platform.
Still, Apple is in better shape than most of its competitors and leads the tablet market. Apple’s tablet sales are down, but most other competitors are down even more.
The good news is that Apple has its best chance in years to revive the tablet market: An overhauled iPad Pro. The new model, launching in 2024, will mark the first major update to the iPad product since 2018. The current iPad Pro has been upgraded with new chips, cameras, display technology and sensors in recent years. recent years, but has not yet undergone more fundamental changes.
The next iPad Pro models, codenamed J717, J718, J720 and J721, will switch to the next generation M3 chip. They will also be Apple’s first tablets with OLED screens. This is the type of screen that has been used on iPhones since the X model in 2017, which is sharper, brighter and reproduces colors more accurately.
The new iPad Pro models will come in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes. That’s similar to the existing lineup, but the larger model now measures 12.9 inches.
According to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, something else that comes with the new iPad Pro is a revamped Magic Keyboard. The new accessory makes the iPad Pro look more like a laptop than the current setup and adds a larger trackpad. That addresses the shortcomings on the current Magic Keyboard, launched in 2020.
The new models will likely help iPad sales increase, but not in the short term.