iPad 3 Production Starts This Quarter: Susquehanna

Production of Apple’s third-generation iPad is about to get underway, according to Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro.

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According to Fidacaro, Apple’s manufacturing partners have orders to build as many as 1 million iPad 3 tablets in the fourth quarter of this year, in line with an earlier note from the analyst’s colleague at Susquehanna, Christopher Caso. “Our checks indicate that iPad 3 has now shown up on AAPL’s production forecast for a late-4Q production start,” Caso wrote in a recent research note. “We believe 0.6 mln-1 mln units are forecasted for 4Q production.”

Last week, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White said that Apple will unveil a new entry-level “iPad mini” in the first quarter of 2012. The new tablet will not necessarily be an iPad with a smaller form factor, White’s checks found, but rather a lower price tag likely in the mid to high-$200 range.

The analyst said Apple will then release a “feature rich standard-priced iPad 3″ in the second quarter next year.

This content was originally published on BGR.com

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