Apple To Manufacture 65 Million iPads In 2011

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Regardless of how you feel about it, I think it’s clear that the iPad is a success for Apple. And, next year, it looks like they’re planning to sell a lot more of them. That’s based on information from website DigiTimes, who often monitors the tech manufacturing industry out in the Far East. Between Samsung, LG and CMI, all of whom product the 9.7-inch display for the iPad, Apple will be producing 65 million iPads next year.

That’s a lot of iPads, no matter how you cut it. For comparison, Apple produced just 16 million iPads this year, and that was doing well for an expensive device. It’s almost hard to imagine how Apple could sell 65 million iPads worldwide, unless they cut the price to $100 or something.

LG, Apple’s main manufacturer, will produce about 35 million of the displays while Samsung and newcomer CMI will each produce an additional 15 million displays. CMI (Chimei Innolux) is a newcomer to the Apple supply chain game. Last year, the iPad display production was split between LG and Samsung. Of course, all this stuff is assembled by Foxconn in China.

While I’ve always found DigiTimes to be creditable, many of my colleagues at other tech blogs don’t hold them so highly, and considering that 65 million units is crazy (even for Apple), some are suspecting that they may be off the mark on this one.

To put it into perspective, there  have been about 40 million iPhones sold since the first one was introduced in 2007. So, if this DigiTimes rumor is true, Apple is planning to sell more iPads next year then they’ve sold iPhones in three years. Do you believe this one?