Apple Spring Event To Bring Apple TV Refresh, New iPad Body

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has historically introduced new products at a spring event in either March or April, but Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster doesn’t expect anything revolutionary if the company holds a spring event this year. He believes the tech giant could simply refresh its Apple TV product ahead of the launch of a smart television set later this year or release new iPad body styles that would be similar to those of the iPad Mini.

Apple Spring Event To Bring Apple TV Refresh, New iPad Body

In a report issued to investors this morning, Munster noted that in the previous two years, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has released updates to the full-sized iPad. However he said this year it likely won’t be the spring event that will interest investors, but rather the launch of other products later in the year. Munster doesn’t believe we’ll see an iPad Mini with a retina display just yet because of current “supply constraints” on the product.

The analyst looked back through Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s history and noted that the company averages about 123 days or approximately four months between launch events and has done so since 2009. He didn’t count the company’s iOS updates at WWDC over the past two years. He said the biggest gap in between product launches since 2009 was 216 days or about seven months. That gap was between the launch of the iPad 2 launch in March 2011 and the iPhone 4S launch in October of the same year.

Munster believes the most likely spring event launch for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would be an update to the full-sized iPad to give it a body that’s similar to that of the iPad Mini. If the company chooses to update its Apple TV set top box, he believes it could release better software for it. He said if Apple does update its Apple TV product, then the refresh could “prime the pump” for a future release of a smart television set.

Munster maintains his Overweight rating and $767 per share price target on shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Trading on the stock was mostly flat in pre-market hours on Friday.

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