Apple's iPad2 Launch Delayed to June: Broker Note

The launch of Apple Inc's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad2 tablet will be delayed to June from April as maker Hon Hai faces production bottlenecks due to the device's new design, Taiwanese brokerage Yuanta Securities said in a note.

Component makers had to change their production processes after Apple made design changes to the iPad2 before the Lunar New Year at the beginning of February.

"Our checks suggest new issues are being encountered with the new production process and it is taking time to resolve them," Yuanta's head of downstream tech equities, Vincent Chen, wrote in the note on Tuesday.

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Hon Hai declined to comment on the note. Apple was not immediately available for comment.

The note said that if the launch of the iPad2 is delayed by two months, total iPad shipments would be 23 million units this year, down from the broker's original forecast of 30.6 million units.

Manufacturing sources have previously said the new model would have cameras on the front and back of the device and would be slimmer, lighter and have a better resolution display than the first iPad.