Could Apple ship 65 million iPads next year?
The tablet has been a huge success, but 65 million is a jaw-dropping number even for the house of Jobs.
Some of the companies that manufacture parts for Apple's iPad are anticipating the company may ship 65 million of the tablet devices in 2011, according to an article in today's DigiTimes.
That number far outstrips current market estimates of about 45 million. As recently as this past summer, 25 million iPads in a year was considered a staggering number.
The estimates come via LG Display and Samsung, two of the companies that Apple has enlisted to build the display technology for the iPad. Looking at the 65 million figure as well as the fact that LG shipped 1.5 million iPad panels in November and Samsung shipped 1.2 million that month, DigiTimes assessed that this reflects not just Apple's optimism about the growing popularity of tablets but also potentially the sense that Apple may be "overbooking" its orders of panels.
The iPad debuted in April. Analysts have guessed that Apple's total 2010 iPad sales will turn out to be around 10 million, outpacing sales of the original iPhone.
DigiTimes, which is based in Taiwan, has been keeping a close eye on iPad parts manufacturers of late, primarily because of the likelihood that details may emerge about the technical specifics of a rumored second-generation iPad that may be released before spring.