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Apple Sold Fewer iPads Year Over Year for 13th Straight Quarter as Tablet Market Shrinks to Five-Year Low

Not surprising.

Heck knows I tried and tried...and tried. Most recently last week. I dig the Pencil (even if I could not reconcile how different it feels to me than drawing with a traditional pencil.) If a Mini 5 with Pencil capabilities comes out, I'll consider it - the Mini 4 was the one iPad I truly loved, but I couldn't justify exchanging the iPad Pro for a Mini with such old tech for the price Apple are asking.

Commute-wise it is better to carry less, so for my particular case needs anything larger than a Mini is out.

Hats off to folks who get a lot of use from their iPads no matter the model, I understand I am not one of them.

Also agree with folks who say the iPad has stagnated. I do think it's great that people can use them as their main driver, but I still prefer MacOS to iOS.
 
I'm not holding my breath on this, but perhaps WWDC will unveil a new iOS that takes advantage of the iPad's larger display.

The one area I could see tablets making a resurgence, is augmented reality. Perhaps it's in a niche market (ie. Real estate) where holding up an iPad and interacting with your surroundings becomes a game changer. In other words, software needs to work better with hardware.
Otherwise, it's just a slab of glass.
 
Because they are so good, they don't need to be replaced every year or two. Our iPad mini 2 still works great, we rarely use it, but enjoy it when we do. No reason to upgrade.
 
I think this was a pretty obvious outcome, particularly when your tablet OS is quite literally identical to the OS on the phones, and that the vast majority of people who have or would consider an iPad already have an iPhone that is always with them.

Simply put, there is nothing a tablet can do that a phone or laptop can't do just as good, or in the laptop's case, much better.
 
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With phones getting larger and with higher resolution screens you can see why iPads are taking a hit. Good example of convergence. iPads don't replace laptops and don't replace iPhones . So Tim what the evidence shows is iPads will not replace laptops contrary to your beliefs.
 
iPads are fantastic but people just don't need a new one every year. The changes from year to year are so incremental that there's no incentive to upgrade. There's a reason why they sold the iPad 2 for SO LONG, it did the trick for probably 80% of people that would buy one. The majority of people are completely fine with 2 speakers instead of 4, a non pressure sensitive screen, and using their fingers to control it as Jobs intended instead of a stylus...Sorry "Apple Pencil".
 
tridley68 said:
Why do I need a tablet when my phone does everything I need.
Click to expand...

Replace "phone" with "laptop" and this post could have been written by me.

I have an iPhone
I have a 13" MacBook Pro (which has progressively gotten thinner, lighter and more portable - like most other modern laptops such as the Surface Pro 3 I have for work)

Between those 2 devices, I rarely use my iPad Air (which my employer gave me - I probably wouldn't have bought it myself). It fills a weird slot between the MacBook and iPhone. I can do so much more on my MacBook and so much quicker (i.e. typing this post) than I ever could on an iPad. These days, I use my iPad to read eBooks and watch movies/shows on an airplane and not for much else. Of course I could do that stuff just as easily on a laptop if I wanted to.
 
And yet Cook keeps trying to shove iPads down everybody's throat at the expense of Macs & Pro software...
 
Make them a lot lighter and improve iOS for iPad dramatically and i might buy one.
 
Naraxus said:
Read the rest of the sentence and then ask that again.
Click to expand...

I read it and the question still stands: Where is that shoving (down everybody's throat) occurring? When, where, etc. A recent presentation, speech, etc? You make it sound like it's an ongoing endeavor.
 
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Hym tix said:
Hey Tim, Here's a simple fix: improve iOS for iPad and we'll buy more iPads
Click to expand...

MacsRgr8 said:
So much for tablets replacing computers.
Click to expand...

Well, Apple secretly came up with a radical way to replace computers with iPads. Instead of improving the iPad, they decided to delay improvements to computers. At this rate, iPads might actually catch up with Macs.
;)
 
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WinstonRumfoord said:
I think this was a pretty obvious outcome, particularly when your tablet OS is quite literally identical to the OS on the phones, and that the vast majority of people who have or would consider an iPad already have an iPhone that is always with them.

Simply put, there is nothing a tablet can do that a phone or laptop can't do just as good, or in the laptop's case, much better.
Click to expand...

Reading a book or magazine?
 
They sold one less to me because I finally bought a Surface Pro 4 last week and love it. I don't need a big version of my iPhone 6s+.

More broadly, I have a big family using Apple stuff and most of it is getting older and older because Apple isn't coming out with anything to cause us to buy. I have two iPads collecting dust on the shelf that I never use. My wife uses a first gen iPad Air that works fine and see no reason she'll replace it any time soon. One of my daughters has an iPad Mini and just bought a Chromebook to replace it and her dead Windows laptop.

Apple is flush with cash, but they are not generating innovative products. Depending on what happens with the 10th anniversary iPhone, I may just decide to part ways completely with the Apple ecosystem. Hopefully its not glossy black paint and emojis that they hang their innovation juices on this time around!
 
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Abazigal said:
Technology simply doesn't improve fast enough to justify an annual refresh cycle for the iPad, nor are people rushing to upgrade their tablets every 2 years the same way they do with smartphones either. Expect Apple to refresh their iPads once every 1.5 to 2 years moving forward.
Click to expand...
You keep telling that but even Samsung is capable of keeping its marketshare. Soon they'll release an oled tablet. Technology is evolving rapidly only Apple isn't. Everyone is showing Apple how to do it... my gues Apple chooses investors and money over customers.
 
I have the 9.7 iPad Pro and the pencil is great, but it is a niche way of using the iPad given the lack of pro level apps like Photoshop that would make it more worthwhile. I thought I would use Astropad with it, and I do on occasion, but it is too clunky to be the main way I edit photos.

Personally, I never bought a keyboard for my iPad. If I am using a keyboard, I want to use a mouse. Therefore, I just get my MBP out when I have a long typing session ahead.

Until there are apps that can run on it that are equivalent to Photoshop or Illustrator, I think sales will continue to lag because most people don't need a new iPad to check email, browse the web, check Facebook and all of the other things that old versions (Air and up) already do very well.
 
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