11-inch iPad ProSource: iMore

What you need to know

  • GIS makes display components for Apple.
  • Its parts are in the refreshed iPad Pro and MacBook Pro lineups.
  • Demand for those parts is helping out during a normally quiet period.

Apple display partner General Interface Solution (GIS) is expecting a decent second quarter despite it traditionally being a quiet one, all thanks to Apple. The company believes that strong demand for the refreshed iPad Pro and MacBook Pro linups will stand the company in good stead due to the number of people now working from home thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

This comes via the reliably unreliable DigiTimes which also notes that GIS saw first-quarter revenues fall by more than a third sequentially and almost a quarter year-on-year.

Apple's just released 13-inch MacBook Pro, coupled with the previous rollouts of 12.9- and 11-inch iPad Pro in March, will help drive sales momentum at GIS in the second quarter, which is likely to continue into the first half of the third quarter, said the observers.

Increased orders in the region of 40% are expected in terms of touch displays for the new iPad Pro, according to the report. The revenues from those tablet screens make up a huge chunk of the revenue expected for the quarter.

With demand from the notebook and tablet sectors running higher than expected, GIS is expected to see its touch solution shipments for 12.9- and 11-inch iPad Pro devices surge over 40% sequentially in the second quarter, with related iPad revenues accounting for 50% of its total revenues in the quarter, estimated the observers.

The 2020 iPad Pro is a relatively small refresh compared to the one we saw in 2018 with no changes in display technology.