iPad Air Sales Projections: 27 Million Units Sold During December 2013 Quarter Expected, Up 18 Percent from 2012, Says Report [Video]

By Michael Oleaga / m.oleaga@latinospost.com (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Oct 25, 2013 09:31 PM EDT

Tags Apple, iPad, iPad Air, iPad 5, ipad mini, iPad mini 2, iPad mini with Retina Display, Forbes

Sales of Apple's tablets could reach a new record as the Cupertino-based organization enters the holiday shopping season.

According to Forbes' Contributor Chuck Jones, the iPads by Apple could sell approximately 27 million units during the December quarter when the company sold 22.86 million iPads.

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A number of factors have helped Jones forecast the sales projections, which is an increase of 18 percent from the December quarter of 2012. An obvious reason for the projected iPad sales are the introductions of the new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display (iPad mini 2).

"While I haven't had the opportunity to hold one the iPad Air seems like it will be a very strong seller," wrote Jones. "It will also be helped by launching in 42 countries including China vs. the 34 countries that the iPad 4 and Mini were initially available in 2012. There will also be more carriers carrying the new iPads at their launch vs. a year ago."

As Latinos Post noted, the iPad Air is set to launch worldwide on Nov. 1 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

Related Must Read: T-Mobile's plans for iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display, click here.

When it comes to prices, the 16GB iPad mini 2 is priced at $399, $499 for the 32GB model, $599 for the 64GB model, and $699 for the 128GB model.

For the iPad Air, the 16GB model will cost the consumer $499, the 32GB model is priced at $599, $699 for the 64GB model, and $799 for the 128GB variant. With cellular data, the 16GB model cost $629, 32GB model is priced at $729, $829 for the 64GB, and $929 for the 128GB variant.

The iPad Air has a confirmed release date of Nov. 1, while the iPad mini 2 is scheduled for "late November," according to Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller.