Apple Sees Falling iPad Sales in Fiscal 2022, But Mac Sales Up

[MacRumors]

Apple saw a sharp decline in iPad sales in fiscal 2022, according to earnings results for the fourth quarter that were shared today. iPads brought in $29.2 billion in 2022, down from the $31.8 billion in sales Apple saw in 2021.

For most of 2022, iPads saw little attention and supplies were notably constrained. Apple refreshed the iPad Air in March, but did not introduce a new design, focusing primarily on the addition of an M1 chip.

No other iPads were refreshed during the fiscal 2022 year, and while the iPad Pro and iPad just received updates, those sales will be counted in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 due to the timing of the launch. Apple has said multiple times this year that it has faced supply issues with the iPad, which may have impacted sales.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, iPads brought in $7.17 billion in revenue, down from $8.25 billion in the year-ago quarter. The year over year comparison is difficult as Apple introduced new iPads during the fourth quarter last year.

While iPad sales faltered in fiscal 2022, Mac sales were up even though there have been a limited number of refreshes. Apple revamped the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro models in June, but we are still waiting on refreshes of other models like the Mac mini and the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple also saw supply constraints with Macs throughout the course of the year, but interest in the M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, and M2 chips has resulted in steady sales. Mac revenue was at $11.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, up $2.5 billion year over year. In fiscal 2022, Macs earned a total of $40.1 billion, up $5 billion from the $35 billion that Macs earned in fiscal 2021. The Mac is attracting new customers, and in Q4 2022, half of Mac buyers were new to the product line.

During today's earnings call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that Mac revenue will decline substantially in the holiday quarter on a year over year basis due to the Mac launches that came last year.

Article Link: Apple Sees Falling iPad Sales in Fiscal 2022, But Mac Sales Up

 

[Spock]

Clean up the iPad lineup, too much clutter.

 

[exoticSpice]

Well that's no surprise. Macs are great now. If only iPad Pros had bootcsmp for macOS

 

[sorgo †]

Is the iPad going to be on the chopping block? 😱😥

 

[senttoschool]

Macs are the most exciting products in Apple’s business now due to Apple Silicon. It’s the one place where performance gains in chips actually matter.

A lot more room to grow too. Macs only own 10% of worldwide PC sales.

PS. I can't wait for the Mac Pro SoC. I'm not going to buy it because it's not for me but it's exciting to see extreme chip tech.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Declutter the iPad lineup and make iPadOS more functional

 

[eilavid]

Is the iPad going to be on the chopping block? 😱😥

iPads brought in 7 billion dollars this quarter. It isn't going anywhere.

 

[infinitedreams]

Macs have suffered through a dark age, and now it's the iPad's turn.

 

[mectojic]

iPads have potential, but I assume Apple restricts that potential so that they can announce one "new" feature each year. If they'd really tried, I'm sure all the features could've been implemented by now (horizontal camera and Apple Pencil 2, lol).

 

[senttoschool]

Macs have suffered through a dark age, and now it's the iPad's turn.

iPads suffered through the dark age already once. Sales were falling in mid 2010s.

It was rescued by the iPad Pro launch.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Let’s raise the prices and release the same product again, that’ll fix it!

 

[Mick-Mac]

In the name of all that is good and holy, I hope don't Apple think Mac sales are up because they've started slowly making macOS look like iPadOS. That perception would be an utter tragedy... Perhaps they can improve iPad sales by making iPadOS look like macOS instead.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Problem is and Apple refuses to acknowledge it: the iPad is a consumption device. The aspirational stuff that they show in their demos is very small niche of users. Most are using this to watch YouTube, movies, listen music and do casual web browsing. And, they last freaking long! Even when they stop getting updates, they still are useful. I still can't find a good reason to upgrade from my 2017 12.9.

 

[cflem]

Because iPadOS stinks.

 

[t0rqx]

Problem is and Apple refuses to acknowledge it: the iPad is a consumption device. The aspirational stuff that they show in their demos is very small niche of users. Most are using this to watch YouTube, movies, listen music and do casual web browsing. And, they last freaking long! Even when they stop getting updates, they still are useful. I still can't find a good reason to upgrade from my 2017 12.9.

Yep. Exactly the reason they implement tricks "bugs" to force upgrades. Every device will have one. Airpods Max got them last week by lowering ANC.

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

It’s hilarious that they say “sales have faltered” and they sold 7BILLION worth. For any other company that would be incredible turnover. Apple are in on whole other level if that’s faltering.. 🤣

 

[Spock]

Problem is and Apple refuses to acknowledge it: the iPad is a consumption device. The aspirational stuff that they show in their demos is very small niche of users. Most are using this to watch YouTube, movies, listen music and do casual web browsing. And, they last freaking long! Even when they stop getting updates, they still are useful. I still can't find a good reason to upgrade from my 2017 12.9.

My Mother in law is still using the first iPad Air from 2013 and she loves it. Still better than any of those cheap Android tablets like she was using before.

 

[wabisabizo]

The iPad line up is extremely over crowded and they are mostly for creative workflows. To top it off Mac line-up is doing pretty well.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Macs have suffered through a dark age, and now it's the iPad's turn.

Did they mention whether or not the iPad sales are still being constrained on the production side? In the recent past they indicated they were selling all the iPads they could make and just couldn’t make enough.

EDIT:

iPads saw little attention and supplies were notably constrained.

If they could have made more, they would have sold more.

 

[kiensoy]

Clean up the iPad lineup, too much clutter.

You don't have to buy them all.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Make iPad Great Again!

Apple: Release the 14" or 16" iPad, please. Stop cannibalizing the product!

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Nobody whats a a tablet pretending to be a laptop.

 

[Mick-Mac]

Nobody whats a a tablet pretending to be a laptop.

Maybe so, but definitely nobody wants a laptop pretending to be a tablet (I'm looking at you, Ventura).

 

[Mr. Dee]

Yep. Exactly the reason they implement tricks "bugs" to force upgrades. Every device will have one. Airpods Max got them last week by lowering ANC.

I noticed last year, the bottom edge of mine was showing dead pixels, but it seems to have resolved itself.

 

[BC2009]

It's not a fair comparison to last year.... Last year the new iPad Pro with M1 chips came out in April so you got a full quarter of new iPads Pro in Apple's fiscal Q4. And then you had the iPad mini 6 and 9th-gen iPad launch in September. This year nobody was buying iPads in Apple's fiscal Q4 (calendar Q3) because everybody was waiting for the new iPads to come out.

Only problem is the iPad sales may struggle because of the muddled iPad lineup going into the holidays. So the "Fiscal Q1" (Calendar Q4) iPad numbers may not be great either. Mind you, I just bought an iPad Air 5th-gen because of a Costco promotion so I was able to tack it on to my wife's new MacBook Pro purchase and get a $500 gift card after purchasing $3000 worth of stuff online. It was a pretty sweet deal. We could either spend $2600 for the MacBook Pro 16-inch with M1 Pro and AppleCare+ or I could tack on the iPad Air to bump it over $3000 and get $500 back on a gift card. But if not for that promotion, I would have just upgraded the battery in my 10.5-inch iPad Pro and waited out another year.