Apple iPad may see near-term COVID headwinds as demand slows, BofA says
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Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad may start to see some headwinds associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, as it runs up against tough comps, investment firm Bank of America said on Monday.
Analyst Wamsi Mohan, who has a buy rating and a $160 price target on Apple (AAPL), noted that roughly 41.8M out of 154M iPad units sold between 2020 and the first half of 2022 may be "excess," suggesting the "excess" tablets were the result of people replacing their devices faster for remote work and study.
"In our view, a quarter of the incremental sales are linked to quicker replacements, which we expect to result in [year-over-year] declines in iPad units shipped in [calendar 2022] and [calendar 2023]," Mohan wrote in a note to clients. 
Apple (AAPL) shares slipped below $140 in premarket trading on Monday.
The analyst cut his iPad revenue estimates for fiscal 2022, 2023 and 2024 to $28.4B, $22.1B and $21.7B, below the consensus estimates of $30B, $30.4B and $31.2B, respectively.
However, the analyst added that calendar 2024 could see a rebound for the iPad above 40M units shipped as people who bought during the early part of the pandemic replace their tablets.
"We expect the category to continue to gain share as [Apple] continues to introduce new features in newer iPad models, and to expand its customer base in the enterprise and education segments by leveraging its iPad Pro and iPad mini models, respectively," Mohan added. 
Apple (AAPL) recently asked some of its suppliers to move some AirPods and Beats headphone production to India for the first time.