Apple (AAPL) Cuts Q2 Orders for Hot-Selling iPad Mini; Prepping for Refresh?
According to Digitimes, citing "industry sources," shipments of the iPad mini are now expected to be 10 million to 12 million units in the next quarter. Shipments might dip as much as 20 percent into April, component suppliers said.
The move might be coming as Apple preps for a refresh of the device, which may make its debut sometime in the calendar third-quarter 2013. Digitimes also cautioned that the cut might be happening due to increased competition from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android-based tablets in the 7-inch range. That might be unlikely as there has been little in the way of new, mini-tablet releases that use Android since the debut of the iPad mini late last year. Samsung recent debuted a new, smaller Galaxy Tab and is largely trying to occupy every mobile device space with 4- to 8-inch displays.
Shares of Apple are indicated higher Thursday morning.