Retina iPad Mini Launch Supplies Set to Be 'Ridiculously Tight' Until Early 2014

Thursday October 24, 2013 8:55 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Following concerns expressed during the lead-up to this week's Apple media event that the company would be unable to launch the Retina iPad mini in any significant volume before the end of the year, supply chain analysts continue to expect very low supplies of the device when it launches next month.

Shortly after Apple announced the new Retina iPad mini, IHS iSuppli analyst Rhoda Alexander noted that supplies will indeed be "severely constrained", according to CNET.
"The supply for that product is severely constrained," said Rhoda Alexander, director of Tablet and Monitor Research at IHS iSuppli.

"We don't expect to see meaningful volume until first quarter [of 2014]."
ipad_mini_retina_november
Alexander expanded a bit more in comments shared by The Telegraph yesterday, calling the supplies "ridiculously tight" at one-third the levels seen for last year's launch of the original iPad mini.
Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet research at IHS electronis and media, said: "The supply of the Retina Mini is going to be ridiculously tight in the fourth quarter.

"Apple’s 2013 iPad shipment growth is shaping up to be comparatively modest and the shift in launch cycles has played a major role in the slowdown."
Production of the Retina display panels for the new iPad mini is said to be the bottleneck for Apple, with Apple's suppliers needing to optimize processes for building displays with the same number of pixels as the full-size iPad but at the higher pixel density of the iPhone and iPod touch.

Alexander is certainly not the only analyst to be predicting tight supplies of the new iPad mini, with KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo making similar claims. Kuo's modeling has Apple shipping only a little over 2.2 million Retina iPad mini units during the fourth quarter due to those low supplies and a mid-quarter launch, compared to nearly 6.6 million units of the non-Retina iPad mini.

Apple's own announcements have also suggested low availability of the Retina iPad mini, with the company introducing the device at Tuesday's event but declining to announce an exact launch date in specifying only "November". And with the iPad Air launching on November 1, it seems clear that Apple is struggling to produce the new Retina iPad mini in quantities sufficient enough to allow it to launch as the holiday shopping season kicks off at the end of November.

Related Roundup: iPad mini 5
Tag: IHS iSuppli
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Neutral)
[ 187 comments ]

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
Rogifan
80 months ago
My guess is this tablet will be in ample supply.

Rating: 27 Votes
Avatar
Kobayagi
80 months ago
Oh I just love these MacRumors notifications in Mavericks! Hope more news sites implement them. :apple:
Rating: 17 Votes
Avatar
spiderman0616
80 months ago
Well, according to about 10 different CNET articles on Tuesday, nobody is going to buy them anyway, or any other iPad again for that matter, so it's probably not too big of a deal.
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
tigres
80 months ago
'Ridiculously Tight' seems to be the new theme for product release(s) over the last year +
iMac
iPad
iPad mini
iPhone

Channel inventory / supply chain is supposedly someone's strength at Apple :confused:
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
Osullivan1
80 months ago
iPad Air for Christmas it is then....


-- Push notifications bought be here, loving that feature!
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
maccompatible
80 months ago

Where is the A7X?



Right here!

Sorry. I couldn't resist. Haha.

Seriously, though. The A7 should be plenty.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
Millah
80 months ago
Of course the negative nancies will keep spouting this "its intentional" nonsense without grasping a serious sense of reality.

Name one other company that can have prepared enough supply to sell millions and millions of product using brand new technology and production processes, and still be in "short supply."

The fact is that Apple is simply a marvel of very low tolerance, very complex manufacturing in VERY large numbers. No other company on Earth can manufacture products in numbers close to Apple that use the same assembly processes, the same aerospace-grade precision, with cutting edge components. And yet, of course its not good enough. Apples manufacturing abilities already defy logic, and yet people still accuse them of "marketing tactics." Sheesh, people are just so self-centered and entitled these days.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
lilo777
80 months ago
I wonder how Samsung manages to avoid supply problems? And they sell phones and tablets which both have way more pixels than Apple devices.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
charlituna
80 months ago
Demand will be super high. Supplies will be tight. Analysts will claim production issues. Opening weekend sales will be record breaking and many many millions.

Did I miss anything.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
everything-i
80 months ago

I agree with you. Retina display is only a MUST HAVE for techies like the ones that frequent this page. The $299 "Apple iPad Mini" is what people want. All the other stuff (Retina, A7, M7, RAM, iOS7) is gibberish to the general consumer. My wife has heard me talk about all of those things before and I'm sure she will only understand "Retina" and that's only a maybe. She knows what an iOS is but not which is the most recent version. She's still wondering why there's no "Key Lime Pie" in Apple products.

She just doesn't care... she goes glassy eyed and zones out when I talk about tech... and in there world there are way more of her than there is of the tech savvy.


This is exactly what many of the readers of MacRumors fail to understand, they are in a tiny minority and most of the rest of the world fall into the same category as your wife. They like using the kit but could not care less about what is inside it.
Rating: 4 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]