Apple gears up for Nov 11 shopping carnival with iPad Pro

The new Apple iPad Pro and keyboard are displayed during an Apple media event in San Francisco, California, September 9, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

The iPad Pro, the largest screen tablet ever made by Apple Inc, will be available for online pre-order on Nov 11, the same day the world's biggest one-day online shopping spree takes place in China.

The 12.9 inch-screen tablet, which starts at 5,888 yuan ($925.6) but costs more than $1,200 if buyers also want a keyboard and an optional stylus, will arrive at stores later this week, according to a press release issued by the Cupertino company.

More than 40 countries, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, will be the first-launch markets for the new tablet.

"The new products that were released in September -- iPad mini 4 and the larger iPad Pro -- will start driving Apple's tablet sales in the final quarter, with shipment growth that is estimated to exceed 30 percent compared with Q3," said Anita Wang, analysts of global research firm TrendForce.

The November 11 shopping bonanza, also known as "Singles' Day" online shopping promotions in China, has attracted other competitors, including Microsoft's Surface Pro4, Lenovo's Yoga series and ASUS's ZenPad.

According to a latest tablet shipment report revealed by TrendForce on November 4, the worldwide shipments in the third quarter totaled 39.3 million units, up slightly by 6.8 percent from the previous quarter.

"Vendors will be relying on new products or promotion deals to drive shipments in the final quarter, which is likely to account for much of the sales this year," said the report.

Fourth-quarter shipment growth is thus expected to reach 25 percent over the prior quarter.

TrendForce estimates the total worldwide shipments of the tablets in 2015 to be around 163.4 million units, down 14.9 percent year-on-year.