Estimates show 16.8 million to 32 million Apple iPads were sold in Q4 2012

Apple is expected to report its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 on January 23rd. One of the most important figures that will be released by the Cupertino based company will be the number of Apple iPads sold in the quarter. Forbes compiled the estimates from 56 analysts, some of whom work for a Wall Street investment house and others who are independent. Once upon a time, the Wall Street pencil pushers would have had predictions well above the independents' numbers, but the days when analysts were used to bring in investment banking business is now well in the past. As a result, the independent analysts now expect that Apple will report that 25.5 million tablets were sold in the period versus a forecast of 22.8 million by the Wall Street guys.

The median estimate of 24 million Apple iPad sales in the fourth quarter would represent a 55% increase from last year. But after taking into consideration the extra week that the fourth quarter of 2011 had, the actual year-over-year increase would be 67%. The high estimate for iPad sales in the quarter was 32 million, while on the low end, it was 16.8 million.

2012 was quite a year for Apple's tablet. In March, the third-generation of the Apple iPad was launched with a 264ppi Retina display. That was followed up with the surprise introduction of the fourth-generation Apple iPad in November along with the 7.9 inch Apple iPad mini. The latest speculation calls for the fifth-generation iPad and an Apple iPad mini 2 to be launched in March. There is still a big question about whether or not the sequel to the "mini" will have a Retina display, although the latest rumor did not mention that the higher resolution screen would be on the model.

source: Forbes