Like some other analysts, Evercore Partners’s Rob Cihra this evening is enthusiastic about the introduction of Apple‘s (AAPL) latest iPad model, but he reiterates a view that something else is coming.
Cihra, who maintains an Overweight rating on Apple stock and a $650 price target, writes that the “A5X” microprocessor used in the new iPad is not the end of the story:
New A5X processor doubles graphics performance and we think shrunk to 32nm from prior 45nm, but we continue to believe a new 28nm quad-core �A6� will be available ~Sept, setting up the prospect for yet another mid-cycle flagship refresh.
Of the new model, he writes:
10-inch screen maintained as expected, but we continue to see prospects for Apple to add a new smaller 8-inch model around Sept, enabling both a �one-handed iPad� design-point and Apple to save BOM-cost to reach even lower ($300?) price points.
Cihra doesn’t elaborate on what gives him confidence in that view.
Apple may scoop up 59% of the 100-million-unit tablet market this year, despite the success of the Amazon.com (AMZN) “Kindle Fire” tablet, writes Cihra. Apple is the “only vendor able to cream off the most profitable segment,” while the rest of the competitors must sell at cost, he writes. The Fire, furthermore, is only going to make it hard for the other low-cost devices based on Google‘s (GOOG) Android software to compete.
Apple shares today closed up 43 cents at $530.69.
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