Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple’s foldable iPad will be released in 2024 and will have a kickstand

Apple wants to release a foldable iPad next year. That’s what analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says. That foldable iPad would have a carbon fiber kickstand. The company is also said to be planning to put a refreshed iPad mini into production early next year.

Kuo expects that the foldable iPad will appear in 2024 and will be made by the Chinese company Anjie Technology. The analyst does not provide many details about the product, but does say based on surveys that it will have a kickstand made of carbon fiber. This would make the kickstand lighter and last longer. Anjie Technology would at least make the kickstand. Kuo also expects that foldable devices will increasingly be equipped with kickstands.

There have been rumors about a foldable Apple product for some time now. For example, Kuo said in 2021 that Apple would release a foldable 8″ iPhone this year, although Samsung recently said that Apple is no longer working on such a foldable smartphone. Mark Gurman previously spoke about a foldable device with a 20″ screen which would be a hybrid of a MacBook and an iPad. This device may get a color E Ink panel as a second screen.

Furthermore, Kuo does not expect Apple to release new iPads in the next nine to twelve months. The analyst thinks that Apple will therefore sell ten to fifteen percent fewer iPads this year than in 2022. A refreshed iPad mini may be Apple’s first new iPad; it could go into mass production in the first quarter of next year.

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Thus, I’m taking a cautious approach to iPad shipments for 2023, predicting a YoY decline of 10-15%. Nevertheless, I’m positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model will boost shipments and improve the product mix.

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) January 30, 2023