Forbes reports that according to IHS Markit analyst Rhoda Alexander, the release of a 10.5-inch iPad Pro is still on the cards. “Indications are…10.5-inch iPad production is commencing this month. An April launch still looks somewhat tentative but the necessary elements are starting to come together,” Alexander told Forbes in an email.
Alexander also said that the production run is initially “limited,” adding that it would be easy for Apple to quickly ramp up production should it be necessary. Alexander said that Apple could possibly be planning to launch the 10.5-inch iPad Pro in a small number of territories at first, expanding the number of territories later.
Alexander also provided a little more insight into Apple’s overall iPad strategy, saying, “It’s very interesting to look at how well they surf the supply chain. The longer they keep a product active the more opportunity there is to benefit from the component cost reductions over the product life-cycle, as well as allowing them to disperse development costs across more units. This is key to Apple’s profit strategy.”
Alexander also pointed to Apple’s shipping of 4.6 million iPad minis in the fourth quarter of 2016 as being “pretty impressive for a product that was more than a year old at the time and at the top of the pricing for products of its size.”
Source: What Happened To The 10.5-Inch iPad Pro? This Analyst Has An Answer