Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that Apple may debut a foldable iPad in 2024. He tweeted first thing Monday morning, “I’m positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model will boost shipments and improve the product mix.”
Kuo is an analyst who likes to share observations and predictions of tech industry trends. He also predicted that a revamped iPad Mini will join it in mass production some time in early 2024.
Although Kuo didn’t provide many new details about the rumoured iPad foldable, he did claim that Chinese component manufacturer Anjie Technology would be responsible for making the device’s “carbon fibre” kickstand.
Ross Young, an analyst at Display Supply Chain Consultant, made the last important prediction about a foldable iPad in February of last year. Young mentioned then that 2024 as the year of release. He claimed Apple is working on a foldable iPad/MacBook hybrid with a roughly 20-inch folding screen, but he didn’t expect it to be released until 2026.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg later reported that Apple is considering a dual-screen foldable, with the lower half of the screen functioning as a virtual keyboard when folded into a MacBook-like clamshell form factor. Although he didn’t provide a specific date, in October Gurman did say that Apple’s foldable iPad could come out “later in the decade.”
This isn’t the first time Kuo has given a date for a foldable Apple product. Two years ago, he said that a foldable iPhone might come out in 2023. On the other hand, the device’s screen size may be closer to 7.5 or 8 inches, suggesting that it is significantly more portable.
Even more surprisingly, Gurman claims that Apple has considered releasing a foldable device with a screen size comparable to the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max. It’s unlikely that Apple will release a foldable iPhone in 2023, as predicted by Kuo, given the lack of rumours surrounding such a device in recent years.
Kuo forecasts an annual decline of 10 to 15% in iPad shipments in the year 2023. We can expect a decline in tablet shipments this year because the industry as a whole saw a sales boost during the covid lockdowns and has seen a sales drop since then.
