Apple is looking to step up iPad 2 shipments, aiming to ship as many as 14 million units of its second-generation tablet in the third quarter.
According to DigiTimes, Apple has been "piling up its inventory of iPad 2 components such as panels in the second quarter to minimize the risk of facing component shortages." Apple is expected to move between seven and nine million iPad 2s in the second quarter, the results of which it will report on July 19.
One of the biggest problems Apple has faced with the iPad 2 has been the inability to keep up with demand for the device, which quickly sold out around within days of its launch in both the U.S. and abroad. In the same quarter that Apple launched the iPad 2, it also reported a slump in sales of the popular tablet, dropping from 7.33 million units sold in the fourth quarter to 4.69 million in the first. In an earnings call, Apple COO Tim Cook said the company faced "the mother of all backlogs" with the iPad 2, which could have caused the decline.
"I wish that we could have made a lot more iPad 2s, because there were a lot of people waiting for them," Cook said at the time.
Apple also had to overcome a shortage of touchscreen panels, allegedly caused by the March earthquake in Japan.
But if the DigiTimes report is true, it seems Apple has planned ahead in order to stay on top of anticipated demand for the iPad 2 in the coming months.