Apple Cancels iPad 2 HD Launch, Plans Earlier iPad 3 Release?

Apple has reportedly cancelled the launch of the iPad 2 HD which resulted in 1,000,000 units that needed to be retooled, according to Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co.

Barrons reports that Mistek confirmed the scaleback on iPad orders first mentioned by JPMorgan, "We have confirmed the iPad 2 build plans have been scaled back," and cut estimates for Q4 to 12 million units from 13.6 million units.


Notably, Mistek predicts an earlier than expect launch of the iPad 3 in late January.

1) iPad 2 HD was canceled (~1M units retooled); 2) Sooner-than- expected iPad 3 launch in late Jan; 3) Retail inventory caution due to potential demand slowdown; 4) Some production shift to Brazil. We see 29M iPads shipped in H2 vs. 14M in H1. We trim our 2011 global tablet forecast from 70M to 65M.

[via Kyle]


JPMorgan