Apple to Debut 27″ Retina iMac, iPad Air 2 Possibly Limited at Launch: KGI

As we approach the eve of Apple’s upcoming October special event, reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a last minute research note detailing what he expects to debut.

Kuo believes the 27-inch Retina iMac will ship in 2014, while the 21-inch Retina iMac won’t become available until the second half of 2015. The cause for the delay, according to the analyst is the difficulty for Apple’s supply chain to product two different sizes of Retina resolution display panels simultaneously.

As for new MacBook models, including the rumoured 12-inch MacBook Air, the analyst says they won’t make it on stage for Thursday, as Apple is holding back as they await Intel to release their Broadwell chips, before releasing new models.

The analyst predicts iPad Air 2 supply will be limited at launch (aren’t new models always constrained at launch?), while he also states the next-gen Retina iPad mini won’t get a significant upgrade (via MacRumors):

Of the new products, we think the market will be more interested in iPad Air 2. However, as the poor yield rate of anti-reflective coating cover lens has delayed mass production, we estimate 2014 shipments of iPad Air 2 of 7- 9mn units, lower than the 12mn units of the then-new iPad Air shipments in 2013. We thus expect iPad Air 2 to contribute less to the supply chain than iPad Air did last year. We also don’t expect the event to boost supply chain shares much.

Yesterday Re/code noted Apple is expected to unveil refreshed iPads, a new high-res Mac and the public release of OS X Yosemite. It’s time to get our expectations in check, as it will be hard for the company to outshine the iPhone 6/Apple Watch event from last month.

Apple’s October special event is set to kick on off Thursday, October 16 at 10AM PDT (1PM EDT), and will be live-streamed to iOS and Mac users, plus those with an Apple TV.