Apple announced its fourth quarter financial earnings and the company's CEO, Tim Cook, didn't deny recent reports claiming that Apple might not be able to fulfill demand for the iPad mini with Retina display.
The company reported its latest earnings with Apple announcing it sold 33.8 million iPhones, 14.1 million iPads, and 4.6 million Macs during the fourth quarter.
"We're pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We're excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS."
Tim Cook also addressed questions about the highly anticipated iPad mini with Retina display during the earnings call. The CEO said that the second-generation iPad mini will ship "later in November." Recent reports have claimed that Apple has not been able to secure enough of the 7.9-inch Retina displays to satisfy the expected demand for the smaller iPad. The CEO said that it's "unclear whether we'll have enough for the quarter or not." He quickly noted that Apple knows how many they'll have, but that it's too difficult to predict demand for a product until it starts landing in consumer's hands.
While there has been no exact release date for the iPad mini with Retina display, Apple is planning to make its flagship iPad Air available this Friday, Nov. 1. The tablet shares the same design that made the first iPad mini a hit with consumers. Apple has been able to shrink the iPad, make it thinner, all while keeping its iconic 9.7-inch Retina display.
It will be interesting to see if consumers hold out for the new iPad mini, especially given the possibility of supply issues, or go with the larger iPad Air instead, as it is expected to widely available.
