Apple may be positioning itself for an immediate sales rebound with the possible launching of the iPad Pro in the second quarter of next year.
KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo, the best Apple analyst in the world, projects that iPad sales will dramatically fall in the first quarter of 2015.
In his latest report, posted on 9to5mac, Kuo sees a 54.5% decline in the sales of Apple iPads from the last quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015.
From a projected sales of 21.46 million units of iPads in 4Q 2014, KGI thinks Apple will sell only 9.76 million units of iPads in the 1Q of 2015.
"We forecast iPad shipments to fall 54.5% in 1Q15 given the lack of new applications, the (prevailing) market saturation, and the slow season. While Apple (banks) on new form factor designs to boost demand, it has failed to do so this time around," states Kuo.
iPad Pro to the Rescue?
Given the business outlook for the iPads, it would indeed be wise for the American tech giant to push the launching of the iPad Pro in the second quarter of 2015, notes the Apple Insider.
That's in addition to the fact that the latest Apple tablet will not be ready for a first quarter debut since component production and assembly for the oxide LCD technology that the company will be using for the iPad Pro can only start in the second quarter of 2015 as disclosed by Kuo, the report added.
Specifications and Price
Kuo expects Apple to take advantage of the oxide panel on the larger Apple tablet to provide "spec requirements of high resolution, quick response, and high color saturation," reports 9to5mac.
While most reports indicate that the iPad Pro could come with a 12.9-inch screen, the Christian Post is not discounting the possibility that the latest Apple tablet may actually come out with 12.2-inch screen.
The publication based its hint on a November 1 blog post of MacOtakara that stated that the iPad Pro will be similar in size with Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 and that it would be thicker than the iPad Air 2.
The Japanese report also hinted that iPad Pro would come with a 7-mm thickness which is right in between the iPhone 6 (6.9-mm thick) and the iPhone 6 Plus (7.1-mm thick).
While there have already been plenty of speculations about its possible release date and key specifications, the rumor mill is still mum on the price of the iPad Pro.
Apple has not yet made any official announcement to either confirm or deny these speculations about the iPad Pro.