Analysts Predict Flat iPad Sales for Q3 2014, Slight Increase in iPhone Sales

[IJ Reilly]

Junior analysts is a more accurate term.

Actually, not. Fortune calls them "indies" because they don't work for brokerage companies. Used to be that they were generally closer to the mark on Apple's earnings than the affiliated analysts, but that was back when few affiliated analysts thought Apple was worth covering. Now it seems the affiliated analysts are working with better data than the indies.

 

[Mildredop]

Obviously you know nothing about nothing about android and iOS debates.

I know some of the differences, but I don't know how an iPad pays for itself. Would you explain?

 

[sanke1]

I blame this flatlining of sales squarely on 1 GB of RAM and the frequent crashing of Safari on iPads. Most consumers are very informed now.

Even though iPad Air has decent processor and GPU, I can still see it stuttering in my daily use. Is iOS 7 not optimised enough?

 

[ghost of jobs]

- It does it because it looks amazing, has apps that take advantage of it, iOS as a platform is unmatched, etc.

I believe that the iPhone is overall the best phone and platform by a large margin....

Wow, I'm shocked, even the most diehard fans now begrudgingly admit that in many ways its has been overtaken. By.android with all the cool features it offers..

And it's not 2009 anymore, Google best smartphone and the 5s barely gets into the top 5 anymore of most tech review sites.. Everyone knows this.. A row of static apps on a tiny screen just doesn't cut it anymore in 2014..

You are welcome to the consumer advice..

----------

If you know anything about anything concerning the android vs iOS debate, you'd know that those expensive iPads pay for themselves in the long run.

How does playing games, Watching YouTube, and browsing pay for itself?.. I await your response sir..

 

[taptic]

I know some of the differences, but I don't know how an iPad pays for itself. Would you explain?

Long story short, it gets stuff done better/faster/more efficiently/however you want to describe it. Although it might cost more than a cheap tablet, it will outdo and often outlive one.

I'm not going to post the whole debate here because it's pretty darn volatile. What I said will most likely land me a couple unfriendly quotes already. Search around the forums, you'll figure it all out...

 

[admmasters]

Wow, I'm shocked, even the most diehard fans now begrudgingly admit that in many ways its has been overtaken. By.android with all the cool features it offers..

And it's not 2009 anymore, Google best smartphone and the 5s barely gets into the top 5 anymore of most tech review sites.. Everyone knows this.. A row of static apps on a tiny screen just doesn't cut it anymore in 2014..

You are welcome to the consumer advice..

----------



How does playing games, Watching YouTube, and browsing pay for itself?.. I await your response sir..

Where to begin with this garbage...

Android is a gimmicky mess, some nice features but no clear direction or identity. Nobody spends hours looking at a static row of apps, they spend their time actually using the apps, which are still much better on iOS than on Android. With Swift, the likelihood is the gap will increase even further, in my time with a Nexus 5, I remember how much it jarred me all the inconsistencies in the UI between the different third party apps, it made me appreciate iOS that bit more and realise how intuitive it is by comparison. Google's strategy seems to be throwing as much ****** at a wall to see what sticks and using personal data to target advertising at individuals, by fooling them that actually it's "helpful". Never forget that Google is an advertising company.

All of Google's attempts at the tablet industry pale in comparison to the iPad.

 

[thekeyring]

iPad's big problem right now is its OS. iOS is showing major signs of problems at this point, particularly for a large device that has aspirations to be a productivity device, and not just an e-reader, game playing, facetime device. It's not even clear if Apple themselves are optimizing their OS for the thing. Look at how awkward iOS7 was on it.

iOS 8 does add some iPad improvements.

The thing is, the OS is advanced enough to be productive. There's tons of useful APIs and great productivity apps. It's just the home screen is so simple people doubt it's capabilities.

Apple just want you to find and app and launch it. You spend 99% of your time in apps and those are very advance. The home screen is what it is: an app launcher and that's all it needs to be.

 

[ghost of jobs]

Where to begin with this garbage...

Android is a gimmicky mess, some nice features but no clear direction or identity. Nobody spends hours looking at a static row of apps, they spend their time actually using the apps, which are still much better on iOS than on Android. With Swift, the likelihood is the gap will increase even further, in my time with a Nexus 5, I remember how much it jarred me all the inconsistencies in the UI between the different third party apps, it made me appreciate iOS that bit more and realise how intuitive it is by comparison. Google's strategy seems to be throwing as much ****** at a wall to see what sticks and using personal data to target advertising at individuals, by fooling them that actually it's "helpful". Never forget that Google is an advertising company.

All of Google's attempts at the tablet industry pale in comparison to the iPad.

So I'll ask again, how does it pay for itself?.. No answer.. Didn't think so...

----------

Long story short, it gets stuff done better/faster/more efficiently/however you want to describe it. Although it might cost more than a cheap tablet, it will outdo and often outlive one.

I'm not going to post the whole debate here because it's pretty darn volatile. What I said will most likely land me a couple unfriendly quotes already. Search around the forums, you'll figure it all out...

Propaganda and rhetoric.. So you are saying YouTube is better (that word alone is subjective) on a non Google OS, chrome is better on a non Google OS...the 2 main things folk do on a tablet. Videos and browsing , let's not even bring cheap tablets into the equation.. Top end android tablets v iPads are very similar in all aspects.. You are kidding yourself if you think different..

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. Google's strategy seems to be throwing as much ****** at a wall to see what sticks and using personal data to target advertising at individuals, by fooling them that actually it's "helpful". .

What garbage, stock android is as slimmed down as it gets, almost no features.. Simple widgets.. The end.. As close to iOS. As it gets.. You've. Obviously. Never used a nexus 5. Its the other OEMs. Especially. Samsung.which throw stuff at it.. Nice try, but try harder next time..

 

[iTom17]

This I do agree with. A larger iphone will definitely increase sales. But people will question the need to buy another ipad. Apple needs to totally revamp the look of the ipad. Regular customers aren't going to pluck down $500 plus for little updates.

Are you kidding me??? iPad Air already was a big revamp. Or would you like to design a new iPad? You know how hard it is to come with a completely new design. Maybe you want a round iPad? Or a triangle iPad???

Just being sarcastic of course, but I hate it when people say Apple has to come up with a new design. Doesnt make sense, because they've done that already.

Looking forward to the next iPhone anyway. My current iPhone 4s is working well (especially with iOS 8 on it), but after years of using iPhones with an 3.5" screen I want to upgrade with a bigger one.

Wow, I'm shocked, even the most diehard fans now begrudgingly admit that in many ways its has been overtaken. By.android with all the cool features it offers..

And it's not 2009 anymore, Google best smartphone and the 5s barely gets into the top 5 anymore of most tech review sites.. Everyone knows this.. A row of static apps on a tiny screen just doesn't cut it anymore in 2014..

Are you trying to say that tech review sites have to find out what consumers want? If I want to buy a new iPhone or iPad I do this based on the actual device, not a stupid review. I mean, what if somebody says the display of an iPhone isn't as good as what a device like the Samsung Galaxy S5 has? I don't care about that, I care about the whole experience you get with the OS. And Android is a damn mess, iOS is intuitive. It's easy-to-use. I don't have to think about anything when using it, because it just works. Android doesn't IMO.

 

[Mildredop]

Long story short, it gets stuff done better/faster/more efficiently/however you want to describe it. Although it might cost more than a cheap tablet, it will outdo and often outlive one.

I'm not going to post the whole debate here because it's pretty darn volatile. What I said will most likely land me a couple unfriendly quotes already. Search around the forums, you'll figure it all out...

Ah right, ok. I thought that guy was suggesting an iPad would literally pay for itself.

 

[osofast240sx]

Wow, I'm shocked, even the most diehard fans now begrudgingly admit that in many ways its has been overtaken. By.android with all the cool features it offers..

And it's not 2009 anymore, Google best smartphone and the 5s barely gets into the top 5 anymore of most tech review sites.. Everyone knows this.. A row of static apps on a tiny screen just doesn't cut it anymore in 2014..

You are welcome to the consumer advice..

----------



How does playing games, Watching YouTube, and browsing pay for itself?.. I await your response sir..

The 5s is out selling the S5# bottom line Apple sells a ecosystem! It just works!

 

[Piggie]

See you are confusing best products with best features. You would do well in product development just about anywhere but Apple.

I'm sorry, but you are all wrong, in that you keep using the term "Best"

Best is a personal term. Its like me saying "This is the best color"
It's a nonsense as it's a personal judgment term.

Someone wants a computer that runs the latest games with the highest visual settings turned on and giving the smoothest movement will not find a product in Apples catalog that will do this as it's not best for them.

So you cannot say Apple make the best home computer.

Perhaps you wish to run 2 apps side by side so you can chat to your friend as you both watch a youtube and comment as the video goes along.
You cannot on an iPad, so it's not just not the best, it's totally incapable of such a function.

Best is only what the individual deems is best for their personal needs.

Apple's trick is to tell you what you should be doing and how you should be doing it. you adapt your behavior to fit in with their product, hence you now think it's best as you have adapted to their method.

It would be like having roads and Apple makes a car that will only travel down certain roads. You can either say the Apple car is useless as it won't go down all roads, and you pick a car that does. The product suits your needs and it best for you. Or you pick the Apple car, only use the roads it will work on, and deem other roads, stupid, wrong, and you don't want to use those type of roads anyway.

However back to best. We could perhaps argue that say a Bugatti Veyron is technically the best car. It costs more to make than they sell for, and it as the peak of engineering currently, so you could say, that's the best car made.

But say I want a car to relax in and cruise the countryside, just pottering slowly along from little village to little village, well now, my little Citroen 2CV might be the best for me in this scenario.

You may as well say Apple makes ice cream in mint flavor only, and it's the best icecream.

The make nice products, that are cheap, but have an air of expensive about them, and, as long as you go along with Apple's way of doing things. (Adapt your use to fit them) then you will be happy.

 

[TallManNY]

Actually I get this point. The iPad itself likely outsells every high end tablet (model vs model) by more than 100 to 1, BUT:

- It does it because it looks amazing, has apps that take advantage of it, iOS as a platform is unmatched, etc.

However, the OS UI itself does not take advantage of the big canvas. I understand rows of icons on phones. I believe that the iPhone is overall the best phone and platform by a large margin, obviously. Widgets as notifications (relevant) and something as Google Now on Google Now Launcher is smart (quick glance of useful info), but they make widgets on home screens useless. The iPhone is great as it is.

But rows of icons ALONE on the iPad isn' enough. Maybe 3 rows, and use the rest of the screen (on top) as a permanent Google Now type of thing.

(I use Android).

Agreed. It seems pretty obvious to me that iOS got optimized for the phone and then just stuck on the iPad. Now this makes switching back and forth and developing for both easy. But the UI is not where you would start for a 9.7" touchscreen.

 

[demodave]

Six months after the launch of the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPad Air and Retina iPad mini, analysts are expecting a slight rise in iPhone sales from last year, with little growth in sales of the iPad, according to new reports from Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune.

Q3 2014 iPhone sales estimates from 15 Wall Street professionals and 11 amateurs range from 31.8 million to 42 million, averaging 35.88 million. During the year-ago quarter, Apple saw 31.24 million iPhone sales, and the estimated year-over-year change is 4.64 million or 14.85 percent growth.

Article Link: Analysts Predict Flat iPad Sales for Q3 2014, Slight Increase in iPhone Sales

A 15% year-over-year rise during the slow season is *not* slight, especially given the big (screen) expectations of the iPhone 6. *Next* quarter may be a little rough, but this quarter, even if it's only up by 10%, is looking pretty good.

 

[Cyborg21]

iPad's big problem right now is its OS. iOS is showing major signs of problems at this point, particularly for a large device that has aspirations to be a productivity device, and not just an e-reader, game playing, facetime device. It's not even clear if Apple themselves are optimizing their OS for the thing. Look at how awkward iOS7 was on it.

It is fairly common these days (caveat: in my circles) to see people look at their tablets and go 'I don't really know why I bought this', and go back to their phone or computer.

My children love them, as they get to play some fun and educational games on their iPads. I love reading on them. But for what Apple is charging for them, it is hard not to see the value proposition in something like the Kindle Fire line for *that* purpose.

But I'm heavily tied into the Apple ecosystem, so we won't be switching. We won't be buying a new one for some time (if ever) however.

Weird, because I think opposite

 

[Aluminum213]

Apple still releasing 512mb ram tablets in 2013-14

 

[Cyborg21]

No they don't, and never will, as you cannot define best.
They probably don't use the BEST in anything.

Best screens?
Best SSD's?
Best CPU's ?
Best Graphics cards?

What say Steve Jobs thought was best for him was not best for others.
Likewise what I think it best for me is not best for you.

Slapping a laptop GPU in a 2000+ dollar machine on your desk (iMac) for me it not best. It's dam shoddy and poor.

I was looking at the forum but then I seen this comment and I couldn't resist. Today's ''The Best'' isn't same as older ''The Best''. Most screens are now really good that you can't see any pixels nor image looks good. And unless developers start to make apps that requires a lot of power, we won't need CPU and GPU either. For ''me'' if Apple uses current Apple A7 chip for a very long time and current retina display, I wouldn't get disappointed. I wish Apple improves ecosystem, 3rd party support, design and finds new ways to use Apple devices, that would definitely make ''the best'' for me But I feel like you used too much ''Best'' and too little ''for me''. So in my opinion this makes your argument a little wrong and just for information; there are more iMac models and 2000$ model comes with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M which is not really a laptop GPU.

 

[Naimfan]

Eh.

Whatever the numbers, it won't make one iota of difference in the long run.

What would make a difference would be a replacement iPad that was a complete dud, which seems unlikely.

Another difference-maker could be the IBM joint venture, which could put millions more iPads (and iPhones) into the enterprise market, which could even out demand over the course of a year.

 

[Piggie]

I was looking at the forum but then I seen this comment and I couldn't resist. Today's ''The Best'' isn't same as older ''The Best''. Most screens are now really good that you can't see any pixels nor image looks good. And unless developers start to make apps that requires a lot of power, we won't need CPU and GPU either. For ''me'' if Apple uses current Apple A7 chip for a very long time and current retina display, I wouldn't get disappointed. I wish Apple improves ecosystem, 3rd party support, design and finds new ways to use Apple devices, that would definitely make ''the best'' for me But I feel like you used too much ''Best'' and too little ''for me''. So in my opinion this makes your argument a little wrong and just for information; there are more iMac models and 2000$ model comes with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M which is not really a laptop GPU.

Oh.

I can tell you instantly how to move people onto better systems.
It's what used to happen, and how we all got here today

But companies are frightened these days to do it. The do occasionally but it's rare.

What that you ask ?

You design a CPU/GPU or OS from a clean white sheet, make it the very best you can, and. MOST importantly, you do not make it backwards compatible.

It's how we made MASSIVE strides forward in the past. Backwards compatibility slows things down, people cling onto old tech, trying to run new software, new writers, try and keep their products abilities to a level it will run on older devices.

At the time it seems nice and it's ok for a bit, but really hurts.

If Apple brought out say iPad7, totally new, new hardware and OS.
You know every piece of software that will be written will be written just for the new "powerful" machine. Devs would dribble with joy at the new power, the clean sheet, and not having to worry about if it works on the last 3 or 5 gens of devices.

It won't happen of course.

But perhaps, be nice if it did from time to time

 

[cube]

How many years did I wait for an A4 iPad ? Finally I got a 12" Galaxy Tab PRO that was already on closeout.

 

[subsonix]

No they don't, and never will, as you cannot define best.
They probably don't use the BEST in anything.

Best SSD's?

I would argue they actually do, MacBook Air debuted with a 850MB/s PCIe SSD. Much faster than any other laptop when it debuted, not sure how the situation looks now but I suspect they are still the fastest.

 

[Piggie]

I would argue they actually do, MacBook Air debuted with a 850MB/s PCIe SSD. Much faster than any other laptop when it debuted, not sure how the situation looks now but I suspect they are still the fastest.

Yes, the way they build the SSD onto the motherboard is excellent speed wise.

Or course, and again, for "you" it may be "the best" if you had a computer you could open up and fit a larger SSD drive in, and not throw the whole device away.

Again, we are back at how do you define best.

And to a degree, what, one could argue, makes a PC the "BEST" computer.

Because it allows you, the user to make yourself, or get someone to make for you a computer that is exactly BEST for you, the individual.

Everyone has their own best.

 

[Cyborg21]

Oh.

I can tell you instantly how to move people onto better systems.
It's what used to happen, and how we all got here today

But companies are frightened these days to do it. The do occasionally but it's rare.

What that you ask ?

You design a CPU/GPU or OS from a clean white sheet, make it the very best you can, and. MOST importantly, you do not make it backwards compatible.

It's how we made MASSIVE strides forward in the past. Backwards compatibility slows things down, people cling onto old tech, trying to run new software, new writers, try and keep their products abilities to a level it will run on older devices.

At the time it seems nice and it's ok for a bit, but really hurts.

If Apple brought out say iPad7, totally new, new hardware and OS.
You know every piece of software that will be written will be written just for the new "powerful" machine. Devs would dribble with joy at the new power, the clean sheet, and not having to worry about if it works on the last 3 or 5 gens of devices.

It won't happen of course.

But perhaps, be nice if it did from time to time

Um...Sorry but I still haven't go the idea behind this post

Best screens?
Best SSD's?
Best CPU's ?
Best Graphics cards?

Improving ecosystem, 3rd part support, new useful features or even improving UI would make a better product. But only thing most people do on their iPhones/iPads is checking Facebook, looking at Twitter, playing simple games etc. and I see no need for making best CPUs or GPUs for that purpose. So most people wouldn't notice if Apple put incredibly powerful CPU and GPU with ultra HD display and incredibly fast SSD. But at the end it's ''my'' opinion. So why do you think best specs would make best product?

 

[Bibbler]

Um...Sorry but I still haven't go the idea behind this post

Improving ecosystem, 3rd part support, new useful features or even improving UI would make a better product. But only thing most people do on their iPhones/iPads is checking Facebook, looking at Twitter, playing simple games etc. and I see no need for making best CPUs or GPUs for that purpose. So most people wouldn't notice if Apple put incredibly powerful CPU and GPU with ultra HD display and incredibly fast SSD. But at the end it's ''my'' opinion. So why do you think best specs would make best product?

Actually using the "best" components available at the time may prevent Apple from releasing a new OS a few months after you buy a device and announce that "All the features won't work on the device that you just bought"... Or worse yet, decide that your 3 year old device was "obsolete"...

 

[StyxMaker]

This is a good sign for the iwatch actually. I read somewhere that apple waits until they bread and butter product starts showing flat growth before introducing a new product category. In the graph, iPhone was released when iPod sales started going flat.

Yes, but the iPhone was still showing growth when the iPad was released.