New iPad, iPad mini to sport improved 8-megapixel rear camera: Report

Apple will put an improved 8-megapixel rear camera sensor on the fifth generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini, if KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s predication is to be believed.

The analyst’s predications have been pretty accurate in the past. Kuo mentions that the new camera module will features a larger aperture, similar to the one found on the recently launched iPhone 5s. He has also indicated that the ASP (average Selling Price) of the camera lens module will increase by 10 to 20 percent due to this change.

In a note (via MacRumors) the firm said, “We predict Apple (US) will launch new iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 (so called retina iPad mini) in 4Q13. As the tablet market becomes increasingly competitive, Appl could upgrade the camera as a selling point for the new iPad in a bid to increase competitiveness. We expect the upgrade will include 8MP rear camera, up from 5MP, and larger aperture. Lens modules ASP will raise 10-20 percent on this optics spec upgrade.”

Apple has not focused much on the rear cameras of its iPad tablets, at least not when compared to its focus on the iPhone’s camera. The current-generation iPad and iPad mini both sport a 5-megapixel camera without an LED flash.

It’s not clear if the other components of the next-generation iPad and iPad mini’s camera modules will also be upgraded to make them on par with the iPhone 5s camera. The iPhone 5s camera includes a True Tone Flash that features a white LED and amber LED which work with software algorithms to adjust flash intensity and colour temperature. It also offers a Slo-Mo mode to shoot slow motion video at 120 frames per second at 720p.

Kuo also mentions that the Retina display equipped iPad mini launch in the fourth quarter of 2013. Interestingly, a new report indicates that Apple will be unable to widely roll out a new versions of the iPad mini with a high-resolution “Retina” display in October, citing people who work in the company’s supply chain as a source. These people added that Apple’s supply chain is only now gearing up to make Retina displays for the iPad mini,, which means the tablets could be available in only limited quantities this year, if at all.

Apple is expected to unveil the new iPad tablets at an event in October; however, there’s no official word from the company on the same.

Tablet sales slow in absence of new iPad model: IDC

Sizzling hot tablet sales have cooled a bit but should re-ignite with the release of a new iPad model later this year, market tracker IDC reported on Monday.

The International Data Corporation report came as research firm Forrester forecast that tablet sales would rise rapidly worldwide in the years ahead.

Global tablet shipments in the second quarter of this year declined 9.7 percent from the prior three-month period, according to IDC.

However, tablet shipments climbed nearly 60 percent to 45.1 million units when compared with the same quarter a year earlier, IDC reported.

A quarter-over-quarter slowdown in sales was expected given that Apple did not unleash a new version of its coveted iPad early in the year as it had in the past, according to IDC analysts.

"A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors," said IDC tablets research director Tom Mainelli.

"By the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market."

Worldwide tablet sales will reach 381 million units in the year 2017, with business accounting for 18 percent of the purchases, according to a Forrester forecast authored by JP Gownder and Michael O'Grady.

"We believe tablet sales and penetration will continue to grow rapidly," Gownder said Monday in a blog post.

"In developed markets, they will streak past 'mass market' status to become what we term 'mainstay' devices - a third form factor carried by most online consumers."

Apple shipped 14.6 million iPads during the second quarter of this year in a 14.1 percent drop from the same quarter last year, according to IDC.

Meanwhile, sales of tablets grew for Apple rivals Samsung, Asus, Lenovo, and Acer, market figures showed.

"The tablet market is still evolving and vendors can rise and fall quickly as a result," said IDC mobility tracker program manager Ryan Reith.

"Apple aside, the remaining vendors are still very much figuring out which platform strategy will be successful over the long run."

While Apple remained the top tablet maker, Google-back Android mobile software used by a variety of the California company's competitors accounted for 62.6 percent of the market in the second quarter, according to IDC.

"To date, Android has been far more successful than the Windows 8 platform," Reith said, in a reference to Microsoft operating software.

"However, Microsoft-fueled products are starting to make notable progress into the market."

About two million Windows-powered tablets were shipped in the second quarter in an increase of more than five times from the same three-month period last year, according to IDC.

Microsoft on Monday knocked $100 off the price of high-end versions of its Surface tablet, which is competing against Apple's iPad and devices that use Google's Android system.