Apple’s cheapest ever 9.7-inch iPad will arrive in 2018: Report

At a time when tablet shipments have been declining worldwide, a new report suggests that Apple will most likely release an updated low-cost 9.7-inch iPad next year which will be priced at roughly $259 (approximately Rs 16,700). It is believed that this device should attract more demand from price-oriented consumers which in turn, will allow Apple to maintain its present 10 million-unit tablet shipments a quarter.

According to DigiTimes, sources have stated that Apple's new iPad may arrive in the second quarter of 2018 and in addition to regular consumers; Apple is also looking to expand the inexpensive iPad into the industrial and service sectors.

In August this year, Apple's financial results revealed an increase in sales of iPhone, Mac and iPad devices compared to the same period in 2016. This quarter showed the first rise in tablet sales in more than three years. At the end of the third US fiscal quarter -- which corresponds to the second quarter of the calendar year -- Apple announced sales of some 11.4 million new tablets worldwide, a figure up almost 15 percent year on year.

This was the first time that iPad sales witnessed this kind of year-on-year growth since the first fiscal quarter of 2014 -- October to December 2013 -- with a record 26 million tablets sold in three months. 

The report also points out that Apple is likely to outsource the production of the new iPad to Compal Electronics, while giving the device's PCB orders to Compeq and Unitech Printed Circuit Board.

Key competitors such as Samsung, Amazon, Huawei, and Lenovo may introduce their own line affordable options to compete with the new iPad.