Friday Apple Rumors: Plans for a Larger iPad Pro Have Been ‘Shelved’

by Christopher Freeburn | March 14, 2014 1:23 pm

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Halted: According to DigiTimes, Apple (AAPL[3]) won’t be releasing an iPad with a bigger screen[4] any time soon. Rumors that Apple has been developing an iPad with a 12.85-inch screen — dubbed the iPad Pro — have circulated for months. Recent reports had indicated that Apple would delay the launch of a bigger iPad until next year as it focuses on other projects. DigiTimes, however, says that the Apple has now “shelved its large-size tablet project.” Earlier this year, tablet-rival Samsung has released a 12.2-inch tablet running on Google’s (GOOG[5]) Android operating system. That tablet is said to include changes to the Android user experience “to the dismay of Google” and is expected to ship only about one million units this year. The new report notes that larger tablets are facing a “lack of support from related platform developers and ecosystems.” DigiTimes has a decidedly mixed record of accuracy when it comes to rumors about upcoming Apple products.

Not Enough: Apple’s new sapphire production joint venture with GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT[6]) will only produce enough screen covers to cover a fraction of Apple’s next-generation iPhones[7], DigiTimes notes. The report indicated that the new factory in Mesa, Arizona, will only be able to provide sapphire displays for between 9% and 16.6% of the iPhone 6 units Apple will build this year. DigiTimes derives its production estimate on GTAT’s stated sales forecasts and the usual cost of manufacturing a sapphire wafer. Those yield a production estimate for 5-inch screen covers of between 6.27 million and 11.6 million units. Apple is expected to ship at least 70 million iPhone 6 units in 2014. The report contradicts other media reports that indicated that the Mesa plant would produce up about 100 million sapphire screens for Apple in its first year of operation.

Stakeholders: Apple is one of four technology giants who together hold about $124 billion in U.S. Treasury notes[8], Reuters reports. The United Kingdom’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism says that the four companies hold a significant portion of their U.S. Treasury notes offshore in order to avoid taxes on interest. Aside from Apple, the report names Microsoft (MSFT[9]), Cisco (CSCO[10]) and Google as other major U.S. debt holders. Together, the four companies hold $254.9 billion in foreign subsidiaries, a major portion of that in U.S. Treasuries. Technology companies have come under scrutiny from U.S. and European lawmakers for tax avoidance practices using overseas subsidiaries to shield money from local taxes.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[11] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/03/friday-apple-rumors-plans-larger-ipad-pro-shelved/

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