FollowRecent survey has found that the iPad mini makes for 34 % of planned iPad purchases, thus making the 7.9-inch tablet the main demand driver for the platform. The survey also reveals that almost half of the buyers are still new to the platform but the smaller size aspect will help the market share of Apple grow in a big way.
Clearly, iPad mini sales eating into iPad sales, but the trend may be overblown, according to some analysts. The 7.9-inch tablet accounts for 34% of intended iPad sale. There are reports of a decrease in production of 9.7-inch panes by about 90% for the full-sized iPad slate form Apple.
Just in December 2012, shipments of 9.7-inch panels amounted to 7.4 million but, today, they amount to only 1.3 million panels. The reason behind the drop of production of the bigger panels is the staggering demand for smaller ones touching 5 million units.
The sales of the Retina iPad 3 and iPad 4 are clearly getting cannibalized by iPad Mini. Some have even nicknamed it as Mini the Cannibal as its eats away the share of its bigger brothers. A poll conducted found wide availability of the iPad 4 but limited stock of the iPad Mini.
Many indicated that the overall availability was dependent on the storage options and amount as well as colors sought by the customers. It was the 32GB iPad Mini that shoed the maximum availability. According to some Retina iPad too was available.
The survey shows that iPad 4 is not selling well due to the higher sales of Mini. There were 10 million iPad Minis that were created in the past quarter as compared to a combined number of 10 million to 15 million for all other iPads.
Market analysts believe that the risks faced by Apple due to iPad mini are manageable.
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