Apple may release a $260 iPad priced next year, according to sources from related upstream suppliers in Taiwan.

Digitimes.com reports that the new 9.7-inch iPad may arrive in the second quarter of 2018 and its prooduction will be likely outsourced to Compal Electronics, while giving the device's PCB orders to Compeq and Unitech Printed Circuit Board.

All the related companies including Apple declined to comment.

With the tablet market already becoming mature, Apple has been seeing weakening sales for its iPad series, while Android-based tablet shipments have also been declining. Most second- and third-tier brand vendors had already stepped out of the market, while China-based white-box tablet players had also shifted their focuses to other product lines after Intel stopped providing subsidies for using its CPUs.

In any case, a new iPad could better compete with offerings from first-tier players including Samsung Electronics, Amazon, Huawei and Lenovo.