Large iPad Pro delay foreseen due to display supply issues

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By JC Torres/March 4, 2015 9:32 pm EST

If you're one of those eagerly waiting to get your hands on the rumored big size iPad Pro, sorry to douse cold water on your excitement, but that might not happen until later this year. Sources are saying that, instead of a Q1 or Q2 announcement of this strange tablet, Apple is forced to push it to its usual September fare. This is mostly due to the fact that its display panel suppliers, some of the top in the industry, are hitting a market slump.

The iPad Pro story is like a mix of fact and legend. Even as far back as 2013, Apple, along with Samsung, have been rumored to be eying larger tablets. Samsung, obviously, has already gone down that path. As for Apple, 2015 might be that year, though it's is probably going to cut it close. The 12.9-inch tablet might not make it to the company's April event, if it were ever scheduled there. The reason, according to sources, is that display makers Sharp, LG, and Japan Display Inc (JDI), are coming upon hard times. Sharp's lost 2.6 percent of its share while LG dropped 1.8. JDI was the least to get affected with only a 13 percent decrease.

That's not to say the iPad Pro is even the real deal, but it might very well be the only way Apple can resuscitate its tablet line. The iPads have seen a decline in the past few months and analysts predict it will continue to do so if left in their current form. Users are said to now prefer large screen smartphones over small tablets, and the iPhone 6 Plus serves both as proof and, ironically, as a warning to Apple's own iPads.

In that case, the larger iPads might create a new market for the company and open up a new class of users: business users. While users flock to phablets, companies actually prefer tablets because of their usefulness in the workplace. That, then, might be the perfect place for an iPad Pro. Apple's recent partnership with IBM to bring its ecosystem to the enterprise also fits this theory perfectly. That is, of course, if an iPad Pro is coming at all.

SOURCE: Bloomberg