New 12.2″ iPad Air Plus Tipped For April 2015 As iPad Sales Slump

According to IDC Research Apple iPad sales are set to be
down 12.7% with the US Company set to end the year with around 27.5 per cent
share in a market that has only grown around 7.2% compared to 52.5% growth in
2013.

Ryan Reith, IDC’s Program Director, said: “In the early
stages of the tablet market, device lifecycles were expected to resemble those
of smartphones, with replacement occurring every 2-3 years.”

“What has played out instead is that many tablet owners are
holding onto their devices for more than 3 years and in some instances more
than 4 years.”

The report showed Google-powered tablets will see 16 per
cent better growth this year than it did in 2013.

Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC’s research director for tablets,
put the Android success down to “pricing”.

“Right now we are4 seeing a lot of pressure on tablet prices
and an influx of entry-level products, which ultimately serves Android really
well,” said the researcher.

He added: “The next six months should be really
interesting.”

Demand for Windows was the real success story in 2014 with
Win OS tablets achieving a hefty 67.3 per cent growth leap up from the previous
year however this was from a “very small” base said Boucher.

The new iPad tipped for April will give retailers a boost
say analysts, it will feature a 12.2-inch display according to sources.

The tablet will be smaller than the 12.9-inch display
rumoured for much of 2014. The tablet will also be Christened iPad Air Plus,
rather than iPad Pro, the report claims.

Scheduled for launch between April and June 2015, the
article suggests the tablet will boast a brand new A9 processor, which is an
upgrade from the A8X chip sitting within the recently launched iPad Air 2.

Along with the upgraded processor, the slate will is said to
be just 7mm thin and boast dual top and bottom speakers for improved stereo
sound. It is also said the iPad Air Plus will mimic the design of the iPad Air
2 and the new iPad mini 3.

The report also claims Apple is working on a new iPad mini 4
with Retina Display, which may see the retirement of the current iPad mini 3.

The reason for the dual speaker’s claims sources is that
Apple wants to grab a larger share of the subscription music market following
their acquisition of Beats Music.