Led by Air & mini, Apple's iPad grows lead in shrinking global tablet market
Even with iPad shipments and the market as a whole shrinking year-over-year, Apple still managed to grow its share of the tablet industry in the September quarter, according to research data published on Monday.
Apple's share increased from 19.6 percent to 21.5, IDC noted, keeping it ahead of Samsung, which slipped from 16 percent to 15.1. Amazon meanwhile leapt from 1.5 percent to 7.3 percent, putting it ahead of Lenovo and Huawei.
The overall market shrank 14.7 percent to 43 million units. Indeed of the five companies above, only Amazon and Huawei saw increased shipments -- Apple slipped 6.2 percent from approximately 9.9 million to 9.3.
Apple's iPad revenues kept flat instead of declining largely because of the more expensive Pro models, IDC said. Air and Mini models, however, accounted for over two-thirds of estimated shipments, perhaps suggesting that price was more important than specifications. The iPad Air 2 uses 2014's A8X processor, while the more recent Mini 4 actually uses an A8. The company is even still selling 2013's Mini 2, equipped with an A7.
No new iPads were announced at last week's press event. Apple could be waiting for the spring -- taking a cue from the 9.7-inch iPad Pro launch earlier this year -- but has also de-emphasized the iPad in general, since sales have been on the decline for many quarters.
Apple's share increased from 19.6 percent to 21.5, IDC noted, keeping it ahead of Samsung, which slipped from 16 percent to 15.1. Amazon meanwhile leapt from 1.5 percent to 7.3 percent, putting it ahead of Lenovo and Huawei.
The overall market shrank 14.7 percent to 43 million units. Indeed of the five companies above, only Amazon and Huawei saw increased shipments -- Apple slipped 6.2 percent from approximately 9.9 million to 9.3.
Apple's iPad revenues kept flat instead of declining largely because of the more expensive Pro models, IDC said. Air and Mini models, however, accounted for over two-thirds of estimated shipments, perhaps suggesting that price was more important than specifications. The iPad Air 2 uses 2014's A8X processor, while the more recent Mini 4 actually uses an A8. The company is even still selling 2013's Mini 2, equipped with an A7.
No new iPads were announced at last week's press event. Apple could be waiting for the spring -- taking a cue from the 9.7-inch iPad Pro launch earlier this year -- but has also de-emphasized the iPad in general, since sales have been on the decline for many quarters.
Comments
Will be interesting to see where iPad goes in 2017. Expect feature parity across both iPad Pro 2 models: display and camera etc.
That said the new MBP's are a little lackluster. The new Razer Blade laptops actually have me thinking about going PC even if the cost is very similar, which is terrifying. My first computer was a beige Mac workstation. I've never owned a PC. I probably won't go for it, but even if I stick with a desktop for the Xeon processors and stay mobile with iOS, (which is the setup I prefer) the fact that I can't put my own video card/ other expansion sans spending another $1K on a box) is silly to me. I edit all day long, but it's not the only thing I do at home. Is it dumb of me to look at the dual FP cards as an over priced option? They certainly aren't the best gaming cards going. Is it also wrong to look also look at the iMac as a glorified laptop and again, if you want to expand spend another $1k? Ugh It's not like I don't own Audio and Video expansion cards for Avid and Ptools for external monitoring. LOL what's a guy to do?
But here's why I bring it up, I don't really want a laptop. Hence my love of the tablet. I don't find traveling with a laptop all that practical and I don't see them as powerful enough for heavy work. An iPad is the perfect light weight option for me, but maybe the laptop is the perfect in between way to go for most people who don't want a desktop AND a laptop/ iPad. I would assume given one (most people only own one) the laptop is the way to go.