iPad Remained World's Most Popular Tablet Last Quarter While Huawei Topped Apple in Smartphones Again

[MacRumors]

Apple continued to lead the tablet market in the third quarter of 2018, with the iPad achieving "nearly double the shipments of its nearest competitor," according to data shared by research firm IDC today.

Apple on Thursday reported sales of 9.7 million iPads last quarter, giving it an estimated 26.6 percent share of the worldwide tablet market during the July-September period, according to IDC. Samsung finished runner-up with an estimated 5.3 million tablet shipments and 14.6 percent market share.

The worldwide tablet market declined 8.6 percent during the quarter, as global shipments fell to 36.4 million, according to IDC. Apple was not immune to the market contraction, as iPad revenue declined 15 percent last quarter on a year-over-year basis, according to the company's earnings report on Thursday.

Top Five Tablet Vendors, Worldwide Shipments in Millions, via IDC​

Nevertheless, IDC believes the new iPad Pro with Face ID bodes well for Apple's sales through the holiday shopping season:

The refreshed $329 iPad with Pencil support that launched in late March continued to drive volume although it was unable to maintain the same momentum from the third quarter of 2017 as that was the first time in a while that Apple had released a lower cost iPad. iPad Pro saw year-on-year declines in anticipation of a refresh at the beginning of the fourth quarter, which bodes well for Apple through the end of the year.

iPad has remained the world's most popular tablet for several years, even as the market has declined. IDC senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani believes Apple's continued focus on innovation and marketing has helped the company set itself apart from smaller rivals such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Huawei.

Notably, Microsoft did not crack the list of the top five tablet vendors based on shipments last quarter, according to IDC's data. An all-new Surface Pro launched in October, but that was after the quarter ended.

IDC also shared smartphone data for the third quarter today. Apple reported sales of 46.9 million iPhones last quarter for an estimated 13.2 percent market share, finishing behind Samsung and Huawei, which had estimated market shares of 20.3 percent and 14.6 percent respectively last quarter.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Worldwide Shipments in Millions, via IDC​

Apple is typically the world's second largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung, but Huawei bumped it down to third for the second consecutive quarter. Nevertheless, IDC believes Apple could jump to first place next quarter thanks to anticipated holiday sales of the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR.

Like the tablet market, the worldwide smartphone market also declined to the tune of six percent last quarter, according to IDC.

Article Link: iPad Remained World's Most Popular Tablet Last Quarter While Huawei Topped Apple in Smartphones Again

 

[LordVic]

Like usual, the iPad is still the best overall tablet out there for two entirely different reasons.

1, they spend a good chunk of time / resources making it a great experience for tablet use cases.

2, Nobody else seems to give a crap about this market. Android tablets are quietly pushed out using older tech with no attention to them, no real marketing, and just... left on shelves as a side note.

3. The hybrid market has eaten into the rest of the tablet market as they have started to get quite remarkably good at being tablets as well as computers.


I'mhoping the new Pro styling makes its way to the normal Apple iPad soon. that i'm ready to buy.

 

[BaccaBossMC]

MR, it looks like you used the wrong image for the smartphone sales data, reusing the tablet sales data.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

It's not like there are any other decent tablets out there. The Microsoft Surface possibly but the pricing of it puts it more in the iPad Pro category which is out of budget for most buyers who are looking just to browse the web and social media.

 

[pier]

The iPad remains the most popular tablet in a market that is slowly dying.

This graph represents iPad units sold:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad-sales-since-q3-2010/

Here is more info on the global tablet market:

https://www.statista.com/topics/841/tablets/

Total global tablet shipments up to Q1 2018 (sorry for the potato image)

 

[gtmead09]

While this is my own situation, the iPad Pro pricing this year has placed me out of the purchasing state. I am going to remain with a iPhone XS max and forgo the purchasing of a iPad. It's getting too expensive to maintain purchasing both, so I will upgrade to the max and dump the iPad.

 

[Jetfire]

The iPad remains the most popular tablet in a market that is slowly dying.

This graph represents iPad units sold:
View attachment 800589

https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad-sales-since-q3-2010/

Here is more info on the global tablet market:

https://www.statista.com/topics/841/tablets/

Total global tablet shipments up to Q1 2018 (sorry for the potato image)

I wouldn't go by that to say it's dying. It's not like the mobile phone market. People keep their iPads longer than phone. It just growing like the Smart Phone market did.

 

[Piggie]

I love the idea and form factor of tablets, and freely admit the iPad is king by miles due to lack of interest from other brands.
What upsets me the most is here we have amazing hardware, from Apple, and others, if they really put their mind to it)
But it's the software that's letting them down.

Let's take the Switch, against an iPad Pro. Putting price aside, the iPad pro would leave the switch in the dust, but the Switch will have 100x better full games that will be created for any ipads, other than the odd demo game to show it off.

1st we need a PROPER physical controller method, either from Apple or fully supported by Apple, and we then need the AAA titles.
Problem is, it needs to be a 100% strong gaming commitment from Apple to make all this happen.
Getting the public to pay for full AAA titles on a tablet is dam hard unless it's fully backed by the maker.

 

[ipponrg]

But it's the software that's letting them down.

Their 1st party software has always been a disappointment, and they are often salvaged by 3rd party developers.

 

[m0sher]

Huawei topped apple sales only says that they were able to sell it for cheaper since it’s made right there in China and people are willing to buy cheap imitation iPhone copies abroad.

 

[timber]

The current iPad (just that nothing else) is one of the few Apple products with a competitive (I might even say great) price and I do hope they keep it going not too far behind from the Pros.

Apple is the only one living in a fantasy world where a significant number of people use the iPad to do any relevant work but they are also the only company making a proper tablet, light and usable with proper apps to its form factor. Surfaces (and their cheaper relatives) are just laptops without keyboards.

Huawei topped apple sales only says that they were able to sell it for cheaper since it’s made right there in China and people are willing to buy cheap imitation iPhone copies abroad.

Huwei also sells very well in Europe where the logistics are the same. And people are willing to pay cheap prices for great products that meet their needs? Who would have guessed that.

 

[now i see it]

Android is posed to take over the world.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

MR, it looks like you used the wrong image for the smartphone sales data, reusing the tablet sales data.

Fixed that, my bad. Thanks

 

[Gudi]

Android is posed to take over the world.

At no point in history iOS (iPhone) was the biggest mobile operating system. The market share crown went straight from Symbian (Nokia) to Android (Google) years ago. Apple always only leads the market in quality and innovation. Just like BMW never sold the most cars. Volume sales are for brands like GM and Toyota. Has Toyota taken over the world?

 

[Applemaniac7]

Huawei topped apple sales only says that they were able to sell it for cheaper since it’s made right there in China and people are willing to buy cheap imitation iPhone copies abroad.

There we have it, 9 replies before some one gets all butt hurt and precious over Apple not being number one in a category.. heaven forbid someone actually offers some competition.. imagine that..

 

[Bin Cook]

Android is screaming out for an American or European smartphone vendor to truly tackle Apple. This would be good for Apple because Tim and Co are phoning it in because there is no competition. Case in point - my work Galaxy A5 has just gotten the October 1st Android security patch. On November 2nd. It's already 32 days out of date!

Personally still think there is scope for a third OS and not a nut job OS developed like Amazon's Android fork. If Apple can create iOS from OSX, someone must be able to create a sane mobile OS from Linux, without tatty commercial decisions driving development, a la Fire OS.

 

[Nipommu]

SO sick of news like these. Huawei sells phones starting from 100 ish dollars and up. Apple sells WAYYY more expensive phones than these. "Huawei overtakes Apple" no....they did not. They will never in terms of profitability and in high end devices. Literally NOBODY will buy Huawei phones if they're priced like an iPhones and the P20 smthn (no fkn clue of the name lol) is an incredibly a niche market with probably less audience than the pixel audience.

Its the same as saying "Honda overtakes Lamborghini in total qty sold". Selling more $14k civic than $250k Lamobo is supposed to happen because its cheaper. Huawei sells most of their phones in China you know why? Because majority of the people of China have lower disposable income compared to developed countries obviously. No money = buy cheap phones.

 

[Baymowe335]

And the ASP of the Huawei phone was?

Again, who cares about shipping cheap junk.

Apple owns the smartphone and tablet markets from a profitablity perspective.

 

[Bin Cook]

And the ASP of the Huawei phone was?

Again, who cares about shipping cheap junk.

Apple owns the smartphone and tablet markets from a profitablity perspective.

Why is ASP relevant to a consumer? Cheerleading for ASP is about the most vomit-inducing thing I've seen end users do in technology.

Huawei sold more smart phones. They might be crap - and I think they are - but they sold more. End of story. No need for anyone to get out their pram or encourage Apple to gouge us even more.

 

[The Game 161]

Android tablets are pretty much dead. Apple have no competition in this area

 

[Baymowe335]

Why is ASP relevant to a consumer? Cheerleading for ASP is about the most vomit-inducing thing I've seen end users do in technology.

Huawei sold more smart phones. They might be crap - and I think they are - but they sold more. End of story. No need for anyone to get out their pram or encourage Apple to gouge us even more.

The point is, Apple could grow their market share overnight by selling iPhones for $100.

Investors don't care that Samsung and Huawei ship largely budget junk running Android that makes little profit.

Apple made more money. What's your point? The story doesn't end with selling more phones. The goal is to make money.

 

[az431]

The iPad remains the most popular tablet in a market that is slowly dying.

This graph represents iPad units sold:
View attachment 800589

https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad-sales-since-q3-2010/

Here is more info on the global tablet market:

https://www.statista.com/topics/841/tablets/

Total global tablet shipments up to Q1 2018 (sorry for the potato image)

In 2010, few people owned tablets, whereas in 2018 just about everyone already owns one. Has nothing to do with a "dying market," more like a mature market where sales are mostly to upgrade existing tablets.

 

[timber]

And the ASP of the Huawei phone was?

Again, who cares about shipping cheap junk.

Apple owns the smartphone and tablet markets from a profitablity perspective.

Huawei's phones may be cheap mas most of them are not junk and in due time that may or may not be a problem to Apple as a functioning computer business requires some market share.

Apple has always been US centric but they seem to be working towards being non existent outside the USA.

 

[Bin Cook]

The point is, Apple could grow their market share overnight by selling iPhones for $100.

Investors don't care that Samsung and Huawei ship largely budget junk running Android that makes little profit.

Apple made more money. What's your point? The story doesn't end with selling more phones. The goal is to make money.

You didn't answer my question but to answer yours - it's a list of smartphone sales. Huawei sold more than Apple. End of story. Consumers don't care about investors and ASP. They care about what is in their wallets.

I'm assuming you are coming from the POV as an AAPL stock holder?

 

[Breaking Good]

SO sick of news like these. Huawei sells phones starting from 100 ish dollars and up. Apple sells WAYYY more expensive phones than these. "Huawei overtakes Apple" no....they did not. They will never in terms of profitability and in high end devices. Literally NOBODY will buy Huawei phones if they're priced like an iPhones and the P20 smthn (no fkn clue of the name lol) is an incredibly a niche market with probably less audience than the pixel audience.

Its the same as saying "Honda overtakes Lamborghini in total qty sold". Selling more $14k civic than $250k Lamobo is supposed to happen because its cheaper. Huawei sells most of their phones in China you know why? Because majority of the people of China have lower disposable income compared to developed countries obviously. No money = buy cheap phones.

Which is fine as long as Lamobo (Lamborghini??????) can find enough buyers for their US$250k cars to keep them afloat and Apple can find enough buyers for their +US$1,000 smartphones to keep them afloat.

Both seem to be doing an alright job so far.

My own US$0.02, I think that most iOS users are more interested in Apple's software and services (i.e., the "iCosystem") than interested in any hardware innovation.