Apple might have sold around 14M iPads in the last quarter, estimates show

[RaduTyrsina]

Tomorrow is the big day when Apple is finally expected to unveil the iPad 5 and the iPad Mini 2, which could come packed with the Retina Display. As we get ready to welcome the next-generation iPads, some journalists, such as Philip Elmer-DeWitt with CNN Money’s Fortune publication, are wondering how many iPad units has Apple managed to sell in the last, fourth quarter.

To get an average estimate, Philip has collected Q4 estimates from thirty Apple analysts, 17 of them being professionals and 19 amateurs. Among the analysts there are names that we have written about, such as Brian White from Cantor Fitzgerald, Horace Dediu of Asymco, Peter Misek of Jefferies, Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray and many others. Of course, there are only a few analysts that agree, with sales estimates ranging from as high as 18 million to only 11.5 million.

Philip summarized the results in the attached bar graph that you can see above and came up with an average sales number - 13.72 million. Compared to last year’s official iPad sales number we can see that the results are almost identical, as Apple registered 14 million combined iPad sales. Philip said the following:

”Last year's iPads started off fiscal 2013 with a bang, selling nearly 23 million units in the holiday quarter. But sales fell off sharply in fiscal Q2 and Q3 -- the first spring/summer without a new iPad -- and we'll find out how well they did in Q4 on Oct. 28, a week from Monday.”

Obviously, after Apple releases the new iPads, sales of the older models will seriously decrease, unless Apple decides to keep the original iPad Mini around at a cheaper price.

Source: CNN Fortune