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Just a sign that iPads have gotten to the point where upgrading isn't neccesary with each new model. There hasn't been a game changer with the iPad since the retina display.
 
Tablets never made sense to me.

Laptop - full blown OS, does everything, fits in a bag
Phone - cut-down OS but fits in your pocket, makes phone calls.

And then there's tablets. Cut down OS but doesn't fit in your pocket, needs to go in your bag, can't make phone calls. They're just a gimmick.

And the Apple Watch will be the next one.

You comment does not make sense, and is bordering on trolling.

Just because you don't see the point doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't either. The fact that Apple still sells over 20 million a quarter should tell you enough.

The most likely reason for the decline is that the quality of the devices and the mostly consumption-oriented use-cases favor multi-year upgrade cycles. The market is slowly becoming saturated now, but will likely plateau when people start to replace older tablets.
 
I guess the market is reaching saturation, and because there hasn't been that much innovation, people have no need to update their tablets that often. In my opinion Apple has been quite lazy with iPad in recent years, there's much unused potential in it.
 
I am clearly not mainstream. If asked what I would give up first it would be iPhone, iPad, Mac. With the Mac being the last and the iPhone the first.

On the other hand, with that avatar surely you must be the first one to buy an Apple Watch!
 
Here is where we can expect Apple to force obsolescence rather than innovate and make something everyone needs a new one.

Apple has spent the last 5 years with 90%+ of their "innovation" is making products thinner to the point of removing or withholding desired functionality. This is really prevalent in the Mac product lines.
 
Shouldn't the news be "Smaller tablet contenders' growth outpacing that of the major ones"?

That tablet growth is slowing down is only half of the truth. It's slowing down, yes. For Apple.

No, the entire market is down over 3% year on year on a unit basis. Smaller vendors are REPLACING Apple and Samsung. And unless you know something the rest of us don't, those smaller vendors mostly are offering cheaper products, bringing the overall market down from an overall revenue standpoint. So no, they got the news exactly right. It's a shrinking market.
 
I guess the market is reaching saturation, and because there hasn't been that much innovation, people have no need to update their tablets that often. In my opinion Apple has been quite lazy with iPad in recent years, there's much unused potential in it.

Interesting comment, if you have more to offer. Do you have any specific thoughts on the "unused potential" (and please do not say "multitasking"!!!)
 
My first and only iPad so far is the iPad 4. It does everything I need without any issues. It is ever so slightly sluggish with IOS 8 but not really a big deal.

My main motivation for getting the iPad Air 2 would be the smaller form factor and lighter weight. While that's a temptation, it's not a big temptation at all.

The point is, Apple has done nothing software wise to tempt me to get a new iPad. If Apple designed some viable features such as true and seamless multitasking, superior copy and paste, use of the cursor keys from keyboard, etc. and those functions required a more powerful iPad, I would purchase one.

Innovation is the key to continuing to improve iPad sales. Right now it seems like Apple is almost abandoning this segment because of the success they are having with their iPhones. Apple needs to have a strong eco system to differentiate themselves from their competitors, so they need to further that cause by innovating in desktop, phone, and tablets. I hope they realize this.
 
I guess the market is reaching saturation, and because there hasn't been that much innovation

What is innovation according to you?

In my opinion Apple has been quite lazy with iPad in recent years, there's much unused potential in it.

Which potential do you mean. What true innovation do you have in mind that would have turned the trend around? Honest question. Would really like to know what potential you see.
 
The ipad pro better be able to do something amazing like run OS X and do true multitasking...and not just be a "larger" ipad with extra speakers. That won't help improve sales IMHO.

I'll never understand why people think a desktop OS designed for mouse/keyboard should be put on a tablet. It makes zero sense to me. If "true multitasking" is required for a "pro" tablet then it should be incorporated into iOS.
 
Time for a new iOS update to really screw up those iPads we all hang onto and love because they still work fine.

/sarcasm
 
What is innovation according to you?



Which potential do you mean. What true innovation do you have in mind that would have turned the trend around? Honest question. Would really like to know what potential you see.

I'm guessing they mean turn the iPad into a laptop ala Surface Pro.
 
Make that buggy iOS tablet friendly and the sales will go up. As it stands now, iPad = Giant iPod Touch.
 
The tablet market is shifting to Windows. Apple and Android-heavy brands are seeing decline or are mostly flat, while Lenovo (who sells some of the better Windows tablets) and the "Others" category are hot right now.
 
Zero software innovation in YEARS, decline in sales

Who woulda thunk

My thoughts exactly! The new iPad is not behind hardware wise, way better than iPhone 6. I decided to keep my iPhone 5 and bought the Air 2 instead. I love how the 2gig RAM and tri-core performs on iOS. But there is laways something is missing when I use my new iPad. They could have just added the real multi-tasking feature. That feature alone will make close the gap between PC and tablet. I'm hoping that feature will come on the next update.
 
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Also for the love of God, can we please get split screen multitasking?

I use my MacBook air because I can watch a movie on it with Twitter or email open. It's annoying to have to switch between apps.
I'm not against split screen multitasking on tablets but I can't understand people "multitasking" when they're watching a movie. I must be too old.
 
Tablets are the perfect device for many different things--much better than a phone or laptop in many cases. However, the things they are good at do not require a yearly hardware upgrade, or even a bi-yearly upgrade.

I've never heard an iPad owner say they don't like the device or don't use it. What I HAVE heard a lot of is, "It still works just fine for everything I do. Why would I buy a new one?"

I think you are absolutely correct. They are useful. But from what I can see, most people dedicate the use of a specific tablet to a small number of applications. If so, that would mean less need to upgrade than for a device (PC or phone) that is used for a wide set of applications.
 
I'm guessing they mean turn the iPad into a laptop ala Surface Pro.

Indeed. I guess the answer will never come.

Innovation has become such a buzzword but very few here realize what it actually is and what it takes for a company to do. They think it is a matter of sitting in a room, coming up with some ideas and making some prototypes.
 
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I can see this. I had the iPad Air 1 and now I have the iPad Air 2. Although there are improvements, still not a very big reason to upgrade every year. The ipad hasn't really changed too much. I think apple should really focus on software and services.
 
Not quite due to market saturation, but as others have pointed out the refresh cycle is much longer with an iPad. I typically get the updated iPad each release (I skipped the iPad 4) and pass my previous iPad on to family members. However now that they all have them there isn't really enough of a selling point to keep getting the latest and greatest each year. Harder to justify for me. And for what they use them for they certainly don't need to upgrade themselves.
 
What did they expect? The iPad has largely remained the same over the years. Most people just need it to check their email and browse the web. Most people aren't like us. They just buy something and use it until it breaks or is way too slow. Heck, half the people on my team have shattered iPads and they still keep using them. The problem is that the iPad was really good to begin with.

If they really want to achieve any more growth, then they need to make an iPad targeted at professionals. My thinking is mostly creative professionals who could benefit from a slightly larger display, a proper drawing stylus, more RAM for higher-end apps, etc. It's not going to be a lot of growth, but they might sell a few million per quarter more than they are now.

The only software feature I can even think of for the iPad in iOS 9 is split-screen multitasking and user accounts. But the latter could hurt sales even more if they make it easier for people to share iPads using their thumbprint to login and see their own stuff. Mainly Apple just needs to work on bug fixing and performance improvements for apps like Safari that can be crash-happy from time to time.
 
Apple hasn't figure out the iPad, they've had some early successes but how are the newer ones any different then the older ones? They're basically thinner. Throw increased competition and people are not upgrading as often as they do with their phones and the competition is taking some numbers away as well
 
With the larger iPhone, desire for an iPad will decline. If and only if the iPad was more along the lines of a surface would I be interested in it.
 
I'm not against split screen multitasking on tablets but I can't understand people "multitasking" when they're watching a movie. I must be too old.

Live sports and television shows is been popular lately. I have NBA League Pass when the game is on commercial break, you can switch between any app without re-opening the again. The possibilities is endless and some people like that feature.
 
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