iPad Market Share Falls Below 25% as Tablet Market Continues to Decline

[Count Blah]

I know what will really help iPad sales - Don't offer an iPad Air 3 this fall. The sales will surely rebound bu selling two year old tech, at a premium price. I'm sure the iPod Touch was having record quarter after record quarter, selling three year old tech.

/s

 

[Skirmich]

Perhaps release the iPad Pro already? and with the bigger size, better functionality with it too..
Ehem... REAL Multitasking? and please no 1-2GB of RAM.....

 

[Pilgrim1099]

The Surface is succeeding because it is a unique product which gives you the best of both worlds. I succeeds where the tablet excels but it also works well as a traditional computer. Attach it to a dock, and effectively you have a desktop computer with a full desktop operating system. On the go, you have perfect device to read something or consume content. Away from your desk, you effectively have a laptop. That's why the Surface is selling well. But the problem with the Surface is that it is ahead of its time. It doesn't have enough power to dislodge my Desktop or my Laptop yet. It can only do very basic things. But this is where I see the market going.

Personally I still think in 20-40 years the smartphone will probably replace laptops and desktops for most things. They will probably become our only computing device. But they won't be in the current form factor. I could see an on the go phone being the size of a smartphone, with the same UI as our current smartphone. However, I also see them having docking abilities and enough power to power at least 3 monitors, and have a traditional mouse and keyboard with a UI which compliments the mouse and keyboard.

Windows 10 is kinda suggesting that is the direction Microsoft is pushing its devices. I could imagine a Windows Phone like device, which has the modern Start Screen when using it as a smart phone. A traditional Start Menu when using it as a desktop device. Something in between when docked into a laptop shell.

The only people who will be left using full fledged PCs are the people who need a lot of power, like video editors or gamers etc.

I agree with this because despite Apple's slow incremental addition of features each year for the iPad makes me wonder if they were holding back or out of fear, or lack of direction. I have to say it's the sense that they're getting lazy.

Not only that, arrogant as well. I recall Tim Cook disparaging Microsoft's new Surface product thinking it as a product of convergence and that Apple would never do that. It's one thing to claim to know what customers want and knowing what's BEST for the customer THEY THINK even though they're out of touch ( sort of " My way or it's the highway " level of thinking ).

To me, that is dangerous thinking and behavior that Apple is exhibiting. Tim Cook should be crapping in his pants right now because of Windows 10's improvements and how the Surface is still here and has not gone away. Tim's biggest mistake is lift his nose up like he knows everything, acting as if the company knows best. It's one reason why I don't like him because he comes off really phony to me.

This is why I think the iPad sales are dropping. Hell, I even have the very first iPad and it works...okay but not great. I don't plan on getting another iPad because it lacks the true productivity and expandability to do the heavy duty work. The UI of iOS is boring and static. The Surface, on the other hand, feels more ergonomic and built for prolonged work activity or using the stylus for digital art projects. It's even expandable. I've been seriously considering it as my next device so I can run my Manga Studio, Mischief, and Sketchbook Pro apps on it in full desktop mode rather than stripped down. That's the way it was meant to be.

But your vision of a phone powering a laptop or PC is actually not new and has been here, but not in the mainstream yet. I believe Toshiba (?) was working on a product that allows you to dock your phone to the laptop. The phone itself is actually the 'heart' of the processor and you can take the work with you on the go. It's a bit ahead of the curve but I think this is actually what the PC will evolve into in utilizing both the phone and desktop/laptop. The tablets reaching the level of a PC will come even though it's not there yet. Give it about 5 to 10 years and it'll happen as they become more widespread.

Microsoft had the right idea. Cook needs to put his foot in the mouth and re-evaluate how to get ahead without crippling the iPad product line.

I also want to add is that Cortana can be used on Windows 10 for Surface. One has to wonder where the HELL is Siri for OS X?

 

[ringofan]

iPad needs support for multi-user accounts.

 

[Stella]

You can use an external keyboard - much easier - but still, not perfect.

They're not really fine for email or light word processing. The input problem still hasn't been solved; you can't really hold an iPad comfortably and grip it to type with as you can with an iPhone. An onscreen keyboard is really quite silly on a device of its size, shape and interaction model.

They used to be good for casual gaming, but I've found that the games I liked to play on my iPad aren't being made or significantly updated any more. There's no market for games like the old CivRev or FIFA any more. Civ was updated, but they didn't change the underlying game engine at all; they just gave it a horrible facelift and added more IAPs. FIFA is now primarily about FUT (because of IAPs), and the actual game engine also hasn't changed in many years. Games on iOS have all become about repetitive one-minute games with IAP; you don't really get longer games worth using a bigger screen for.

We've seen mobile devices evolve quite a bit, so I think Apple's primary concern is making sure they have a solid strategy in place to both try to shape– and react to- whatever happens next. They have the iPad Air 2, which especially with the improvements coming in iOS9, has a solid claim for best current tablet. They have the iPhone 6/6+, which has been a barnstorming success when it comes to recapturing Apple's smartphone momentum.

If there is room for another category of devices, they would like to be making them. But it doesn't look like Apple is going to try too hard to force that room to exist.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

Just to add my 2cents. Sold my ipad 3, last year just before the ipad air 2 was released. I managed to sell it for £235. I also had a nexus 7, which i used for reading my kindle textbooks, however, deluded myself into thinking that my iphone 6plus generally negated my requirements for a tablet.

I recently was randomly awarded a 20% ebay voucher, I got a 64GB ipad air 2 for £300. Considering i sold my last ipad, albeit under a year ago for £235, the unit cost me very little in real terms. I accept both the high sale cost of y old ipad and the sheer luck in getting an ipad air 2 was incredibly fortunate, i am so glad i have gone back to using an ipad for reading. I was tempted to go for the sony experia z4 tablet, as the things i miss on my nexus is a physical tablet and the large screen, i also quite like the file system being accessible. It was very random i ended up with the ipad air 2, and i am so glad that i went this route. I absolutely love my ipad air 2. With the standard free accounts for: dropbox, google drive and icloud, and 1TB of onedrive i have all my files over the cloud, accessible on my iphone, ipad, and both my macbooks.
I now do not need to take my macbook to work, as amazingly light and portable the RiMBP is, the ipad + keyboard case [belkin Qode pro v3] provides a new dimension in productivity. Evernote premium is also another amazing app that has allowed me index and store thousands of work files

I think my next purchase will be updated RiMac, as my poor rMBP struggles with my work needs, needing 5-10 browsers on safari, several on chrome, word, excel, preview, and a few specialist apps all open at once. As i only have 8gb ram i quickly saturate the RAM.

The ipad air 2 has a crisp and flawless display, and when combined with the Qode keyboard case provided an excellent platform for work, as well as being an amazing tablet to read books. It is also very nice to watch movies on, and i have recently used HD player to sample 2k and 4k youtube videos and was blown away with the clarity and brightness of the screen, even when comparing it to the rMBP.

The Qode keyboard case is amazing. I can use the ipad as a keyboard in both landscape and portrait modes, and it also provides a nice stand to view movies. The ipad can be undocked from the keyboard very easily, and used for reading or watching movies - i still prefer to have it on the dock for these uses.

In conclusion, yes the tablet market is becoming saturated, and tablets are unlikely to replace laptops in their current form, however, a mbp/ipad hybrid like the surface pro would really provide an added dimension to productivity and work capability. I know am seriously considering selling my iphone 128gb 6plus for the 6s standard in October, as the iphone may be useful as a quick reference device, however, there really is little comparison with the usefulness to the ipad, for my needs. I think if apple lower the prices of the next ipad and increase the memory, 64/128/256GBs, and sell a dedicated keyboard dock like the surface or experia, they could sell many more units for those that have become disenfranchised with their ipads.

 

[Tycho24]

Well,

As I said, a LONG time ago, and I mean years.

Pick anyone here almost and say, well guys, we have this large 10" screen, with a 2000x1500 is screen rez, amazing, size and pixel density.

It now up to you to design the most amazing user interface for it.

How much do you think you'd have gotten paid, if after a few years of work, you emerged and said, ok, well we have a background image, and put some large icons on it.

Whilst I'm not saying Msoft have things perfect, I do agree that, there is a bit plus to having things you wish to see on the screen instantly. Without needing to pen apps to check things.

Split screen, or windows, but there is always the 4:3 problem, which is not really ideal for cutting in half in the 1st place.

I guess the inevitable is, what you suggest.
If it's fast enough to run OSX then it should be an option, perhaps it will do 2 modes?

The problem is...... If you are going out for the day and might need your laptop, then why carry an iPad also.
Or just carry an iPad and worry you may be limiting yourself too much.

There really is little need for a Tablet and a Laptop to be two devices.
They are the same thing, in reality, only difference is one has a bolted on keyboard, the other has a optional/removable keyboard, and one is faster.

It's natural for, eventually there to be just the 1 product.

It could not happen in the past due to power of the device, but every year the argument will get harder and harder

It's adorable that you think the home screen is the entirety of the UI!!!! Lol.

 

[duffman9000]

I'm sure apple will release an update that makes earlier iPads so slow they're virtually unusable as usual to force people to upgrade.

But, but Apple has never ever done such a thing to any iDevice... /recalling_my_iPhone_3G...

 

[dec.]

iPad needs support for multi-user accounts.

did that help Samsungs tablets? Or is it just a random "that needs to be improved" thing, while others are saying that tablets in general aren't the ideal thing anyway?

 

[DrumApple]

Can't remember the last time I actually used my iPad. Just don't need it, can do everything it does from my iPhone, and I rarely need a larger screen than that.

 

[MacBH928]

I think the biggest problem with the iPad is the sotfware. The current iOS just doesn't cut it. The iPad is just a big iPod touch. The software should be more capable maybe like Surface is.

If all its going to do read webpages, pdfs, play plants vs zombies then every ipad released can do this. On the opposite, people will always upgrade the phone because they constantly use it and any 1 single improvement can change the experience, even if its 1 second faster switching between apps.

 

[thekeyring]

IMO, that's just what happens when the tablet market exploded too soon and OEMs flood the market with tons of cheap tablets.

I don't see this as a inherently bad thing. I still love my iPad, and get lots of use out of it, and do see myself upgrading eventually.

This is exactly it. Marketshare is recounted every year. So if everyone who wants an iPad bought one last year, so no one has bought one this year, Apple would have 0% of the marketshare, despite lots and lots of people using iPads.

If you buy a cheap £99 tablet every year or so from Amazon, their marketshare will be hire than Apple's - who might sell a user an iPad every 4 years.

 

[thekeyring]

I've been seriously considering it as my next device so I can run my Manga Studio, Mischief, and Sketchbook Pro apps on it in full desktop mode rather than stripped down. That's the way it was meant to be.

Then why don't you get a laptop? The new MacBook or an Air for instance? Simply the lack of touchscreen?

I do wonder about people that say, "I want a tablet but I want a desktop OS, keyboard, USB ports and it needs to be powerful enough to run Photoshop, and Autodesk software."

No, folks. You might want a tablet, but you need a laptop.

 

[plexdk]

I think the biggest problem with the iPad is the sotfware. The current iOS just doesn't cut it. The iPad is just a big iPod touch. The software should be more capable maybe like Surface is.

If all its going to do read webpages, pdfs, play plants vs zombies then every ipad released can do this. On the opposite, people will always upgrade the phone because they constantly use it and any 1 single improvement can change the experience, even if its 1 second faster switching between apps.

This is what they are fixing in iOS 9, with better multitasking

 

[springsup]

You can use an external keyboard - much easier - but still, not perfect.

Yes, but they still don't have one as convenient as the Surface keyboard; which is to say, one that can be powered from the device and not need its own battery.

I wonder if they could make the magnetic grip-strip of the smart cover also inductively provide power enough for a keyboard. That would make an external keyboard much more practical.

 

[springsup]

This is exactly it. Marketshare is recounted every year. So if everyone who wants an iPad bought one last year, so no one has bought one this year, Apple would have 0% of the marketshare, despite lots and lots of people using iPads.

If you buy a cheap £99 tablet every year or so from Amazon, their marketshare will be hire than Apple's - who might sell a user an iPad every 4 years.

That's because it's a statistic for the purposes of finance. If Apple sold no iPads at all this year, that would be huge financial news.

Otherwise, if all you're interested in is how many people are using iPads - well, I'm sure there are loads of people still using those firesale HP Touchpads. That doesn't mean a whole lot for the company.

 

[AlecZ]

The cheese grater and the MacBook under my desk say "suck it"
They killed the netbook, and that's it.

 

[dilbert99]

Hopefully will put downward price pressure on iPads

 

[Tech198]

haha Apple is the largest declining tablet market....

Puts them in a bad position when worded that way

If there the best selling tablet, why would it be declining at all ? If its not selling as many, then its not the best selling tablet then, because allot more users would be buying it it was.

 

[s2mikey]

I think we're coming to see that tablets are a lot like PCs in regards to how often they will be upgraded by users. They had the large initial boom of sales to get them into the market, now people are just keeping what they have since it's good enough. The iPad 2 still gets the job done for most people and most businesses who purchase them in bulk are also still using iPad 2s. No reason to get a newer model.

In fact I think tablets will be upgraded even less often than PCs going forward as they are the least essential device between computers, smartphones, and tablets.

I agree with this, even though I find phones WAY too small to do anything productive on. The problem is that people want tablets to be as powerful as a laptop but in order to do that the companies would have to make them bulkier, pricier, less portable and.... Well..... NOT very tablet-like.

I love tablets and the idea of them but I can see people finding them in that no mans land between a laptop and a phone as you mention.

 

[js2704]

I'm not sure why this is massively surprising. We have four iPads in use in our house - my 18 year old uses his iPad 1 to browse photos (he's got a small photography business), the 5 year old uses her iPad 2 to play educational games, I use my iPad 3 (first retina) for email and web browsing and my wife uses her retina mini for email, browsing and reading. With the exception of the iPad 1, none of us has a compelling reason to upgrade, but I would imagine that, in time, we all will.

What would make me run down the street to the Apple store today is if the iPad could genuinely replace the notebook I use at work, which would require proper high-resolution pen input.

 

[Mildredop]

i thought tablets were the future and would replace laptops?

lol mo-rons

And people are falling for it again with the whole smartwatch idea.

Apple's only real runaway success is the iPhone, and that can't last forever. No other product seems to have taken the world by storm.

 

[x0vash0x]

My wild theory:

Apple will rebrand the iPad Air product line as the MacBook Air. Basically, Apple will replace the MacBook Air with the iPads but will rebrand them as 'MacBook Airs'. Or, Apple discontinues MacBook Air and replaces it with the iPad Pro.

Apple does need something to compete with the Surface. The iPad is not it. And given how they seem relatively indifferent about the iPad, it seems that they are going to improve on it drastically in the near future.

 

[Edgar Spayce]

Righto... if you say so... Let's just ignore the 225,000,000 - yes 225 MILLION! iPads sold in 2009-2014 + the 40 odd million in 2015 so far.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/253725/iphone-ipad-and-ipod-sales-comparison/

Oh and thats more iPads sold in 5 years than Mac computers in 32 year...

Partly based on these figure and the updated since 2012.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12...s_devices_in_2011_than_total_macs_in_28_years

However I do think the Air 2 / Air and mini 3 / 2 price points are too close to make that much difference. Why wouldn't you just get the newer one!?

1. So you're comparing a market of which Apple possess just 5% shares, with a market in which Apple (used to possess) 50%?

I smell the hypocrite apologist and the uselessness of arguing

2. The price point? I never talked about price, overpriced Apple device do sell when they have no competitor AND a use. Ipads have no relevant competitor but they are USELESS. For the reason I already mentioned and won't repeat.

 

[Edgar Spayce]

Those counting out the tablet are just being foolish. The issue with current day tablets is not the form factor - it's the software. Look at how well Microsoft Surface has done - and that's with a subpar implementation of a tablet interface. Imagine if we could run Mac apps on an iPad form factor. I'm guessing you'd see a lot more iPad sales. Now whether or not they'd be upgraded as often as iPhones is a different story. I think tablets will always be on a different upgrade track. But the recent stagnation in tablet sales is in my opinion a direct result of limited functionality, not because the form factor itself is inferior.

Yes this as well. The Microsoft Surface is a real "Post-Pc" Tablet. The Ipad is a bigger iPod. That's one of the reasons why Apple is being kicked aside.