It was back in March this year that Apple introduced a $329 9.7-inch iPad for the first time. However, new reports claim that next year this price could go even lower with the company apparently planning a 9.7 inch iPad in the $259 price range.
According to the report, Apple will push this cheaper tablet toward markets such as industrial enterprise deployments and price-sensitive customers. In recent years, the company’s iPad sales have faced some rough quarters with a decline every year since record highs in 2013-2014. However, with the launch of the $329 iPad, alongside some impressive updates, sales growth has recovered somewhat this year.
It’s still not entirely clear whether this $259 iPad will replace the $329 model and technical specifications of the device are unknown although rumors suggest it may be a slightly tweaked version of the current 2017 iPad at a lower price.
The report says that the device will be manufactured by Compal Electronics and be released in the second quarter of 2018.
