iPad Remains World's Most Popular Tablet as Apple Outsold Samsung and Amazon Combined Last Year

[FrozenInferno]

Still rocking my first gen iPad Mini that I bought new.

Browsing functionality is pretty much toast, most websites just reload over and over I guess because the RAM can't handle it anymore, but for content consumption this thing is still a little beast. As long as Netflix, YouTube, Twitch and the like continue to run flawlessly, and the battery keeps giving me a solid six or so hours of video, I'll keep using this iPad until it disintegrates and blows away in a breeze.

I would love to have a newer model with retina but can't justify the price right when this one continues to work so well. It will be a sad day when it eventually dies.

 

[techwhiz]

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro that's a few years old for my car GPS, etc. It was cheap so I don't mind it in the car.
My "real" tablet is an iPad Pro 9.7 that replaced an iPad mini.
We have a total of 5 iPad's in my house if you include the retired mini that is just an eReader these days.

Is there any other "real" tablet besides an iPad?
I think that battle and war are over. Apple Won.
People I know that don't own an iPhone have iPads. My house included.

 

[manu chao]

(LOL)^N on the iPhone being being a "fashion accessory".
Whatever the market of a "fashion accessory" will bear? /s

The iPhone is a status symbol (to a subgroup of its owners, and to varying degrees). It can stand simply for having money but to a lesser degree it can also stand for having taste, it can also simply stand for being part of a group that is considered cool. In that sense, it can act similarly to other fashion accessories (that can also stand for having money and/or taste or be cool).

 

[salukimike]

"Apple sold a total of 43.8 million iPad units in 2017, as confirmed by its quarterly earnings results, while IDC estimates that Samsung and Amazon shipped 24.9 million and 16.7 million tablets respectively on the year."
Playing this game as well MR? It's been well established by now that what Apple considers to be "sold" is in reality what others call "shipped".

It's not a game. Apple is both the manufacturer and the retailer. Under US GAAP when you've received payment and shipped it to your customer it's considered to be sold

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I'd like to know more about what the "other" category consists of. It has to be industrial applications (point of sale or warehouse applications and such). Anecdotally all I ever see in the wild are iPad and Amazon Fire products. I can't even recall seeing a consumer using a Samsung device outside of a work setting.

 

[catportal]

I


You should have a look into the iPad Pro line, you'd be surprised by how much you can get done these days on an iPad.

I got the iPad Pro, almost never use it. Macbook is wayyy more convenient to do 90% of things.

 

[ACG12]

I've always wanted an iPad, but haven't been able to justify the cost. I have a MacBook Pro and I do livestreaming and video editing. But I'm really happy for the people who can get everything done on a tablet.

Justify the cost? You can get a new one for as low as $329 and they've gone on sale many times. Seems pretty cheap, especially comparing it to a Macbook Pro.

 

[kazmac]

Not surprised...I was one who gave Apple that lead. I am generally happy with my iPP, although if I ever replace it I will wait for a sale.

 

[Falhófnir]

IMO for tablets there really is no alternative - especially now the 2017 model exists at a reasonable 'casual use' price point.

 

[theluggage]

Something is off-scale. Whatever the market of a "fashion accessory" will bear? /s

Bu... bu.... but... the iPhone doesn't cost £1000 - it costs £149.99 up front + £72.99 a month for 25GB/month of data and unlimited minutes on a 24 month contract, and I stopped reading after the £72.99 bit*. That's only like... £223... nearly £80 cheaper than the iPad. Whaddya mean I'll have to pay £73 again next month? Meh, YOLO - I'll worry about that next month which is like forever away and that's nothing like the £500/month I'm paying on my credit card. What... multiply 73 by 24 and add 150? That's like mathematics man - chill.

Seriously: iPhones have always seemed overpriced c.f. iPads and iPod touches with the same expensive screens, batteries and cases - and the fact that they're still sold predominantly on monthly plans seems like suspect #1. I'm sure the phone companies get good discounts on the iPhones they distribute...

The general population's apparent tendency to read "only £9.99 a month" as "only £9.99" is the basis of a lot of modern fortunes.

(*I nearly did stop reading at that point - but for a rather different reason. Ye gods and little fishes... I hate to think what rates are in the US, since phone plans are one of the few areas in which we usually do better in the UK).

Currently rocking a £200 SIM-free Huawei and a ~£20/month all-you-can eat data + more minutes than I use SIM plan... It looks the business, gets my email & texts, runs Google maps, takes OK snapshots and, if all else fails, you can make calls on it. Even has fingerprint ID. Sorted. An iPhone would be better, but would it be 5 times better? Hmm. And if the iPhone XI makes my tongue hang out with gadget lust, well, that's only £200 in sunk costs.

 

[Baymowe335]

As an Android phone user with an iPad Pro - you don't want an Android tablet.

Or an Android phone for that matter.

Former Android user here.

 

[macduke]

(LOL)^N on the iPhone being being a "fashion accessory".

Agree on (1) and (3), although I cannot fathom:

1. an iPad Pro 10.5"/64BG retails at MicroCenter (after discount) for $399.99, and with 7% discount on top of that if "open box".
2. an iPhone X is 2.5X (250%) more expensive!

Something is off-scale. Whatever the market of a "fashion accessory" will bear? /s

Perhaps you're too far removed from young people to know this, but smart phones are a status symbol with a lot of young people. I work at a university and it's a thing I've seen in our students. Also in China it's considered a HUGE status symbol. If you've got a cracked 5S, you're probably poor. Like I said, I think it's pretty stupid, but that's the way it is. I'm not the one making the weird cultural rules. It's also why so many people want a "redesigned" iPhone, and why Apple typically sells a lot more when the change the look of it. People want to show off. It's in their nature.

 

[Baymowe335]

Bu... bu.... but... the iPhone doesn't cost £1000 - it costs £149.99 up front + £72.99 a month for 25GB/month of data and unlimited minutes on a 24 month contract, and I stopped reading after the £72.99 bit*. That's only like... £223... nearly £80 cheaper than the iPad. Whaddya mean I'll have to pay £73 again next month? Meh, YOLO - I'll worry about that next month which is like forever away and that's nothing like the £500/month I'm paying on my credit card. What... multiply 73 by 24 and add 150? That's like mathematics man - chill.

Seriously: iPhones have always seemed overpriced c.f. iPads and iPod touches with the same expensive screens, batteries and cases - and the fact that they're still sold predominantly on monthly plans seems like suspect #1. I'm sure the phone companies get good discounts on the iPhones they distribute...

The general population's apparent tendency to read "only £9.99 a month" as "only £9.99" is the basis of a lot of modern fortunes.

(*I nearly did stop reading at that point - but for a rather different reason. Ye gods and little fishes... I hate to think what rates are in the US, since phone plans are one of the few areas in which we usually do better in the UK).

Currently rocking a £200 SIM-free Huawei and a ~£20/month all-you-can eat data + more minutes than I use SIM plan... It looks the business, gets my email & texts, runs Google maps, takes OK snapshots and, if all else fails, you can make calls on it. Even has fingerprint ID. Sorted. An iPhone would be better, but would it be 5 times better? Hmm. And if the iPhone XI makes my tongue hang out with gadget lust, well, that's only £200 in sunk costs.

Sometimes slightly better costs 2X or 5X more but it’s still worth it.

Does a an $18k Kia get me from point A to point B? Sure, but I’ll spend 3X more to drive the BMW.

 

[Mrjoedot]

No s**t! It has always been at the top. With decent wifi, you’ve got what you need

 

[tongxinshe]

Windows 2-in-1s need to be counted as tablets, that form of devices will eventually sell more than iPad and Android iPad-cloners all combined.

 

[Macaholic868]

I bought a 9.7” iPad Pro. I used to use it every day. When I was home my phone would be on the charger and I’d use my iPad. Since getting the iPhone X i find myself not using it anymore. The screen on the 6s wasn’t quite enough but the extra space you get on the iPhone X is enough that I don’t instinctively go for the iPad anymore. I’ll keep it around in case I need to use the Smart Keyboard but I only rarely use it.

 

[sza]

Both iPad and Surface are great, way better than the broken android.

 

[manu chao]

Android has User account switching so, unlike my iPad, I don't have to constantly log out of iCloud into a different account for movies or whatever and wait for it to sort itself out, log out of Find my iPad etc. etc.. Pain in the ass that.

I think the operative word would be 'fast' user account switching. Does Android have this? Because in terms of multi user account support, iOS has that for App Store and iTunes Store purchases, it just requires some navigating (and account name and password typing, though the latter would apply to any multi user account switching that cannot use biometrics).

 

[sblemmy]

Basically all the tablets I see around airports are iPads. In general, a lot less laptops than before, many more tablets.

And so many people use it for work.

Since the iPad Air, I've found iPad to be a capable work device and, as the product and iOS has evolved, I've been able to shift an increasing amount of my workflow to the device. Today, I'd say I complete about 60-65% of my daily work on an iPad, 30% on my iMac/MBP, and 5-10% on my iPhone X.

Because iPad is my primary computing device, I tend to buy a new iPad every other model year. As a result, I update my computer hardware less frequently. I used to update my PC every four years or so, but my MBP is going on six years old now (my iMac is updated every 5 years by my employer).

 

[and 1989 others]

I


You should have a look into the iPad Pro line, you'd be surprised by how much you can get done these days on an iPad.

Not as much as a fully fledged MacBook Pro and at not much cost difference.

 

[trellus]

Yeah, I agree with some of the other users, including Android phone users, who say that Android tablets are not as capable as iPad's.... the truth is, Android tablets are such a compromise, and while I had a Samsung tablet for a little while and liked it, I never got rid of my iPad during that time because I didn't see it as a replacement for my iPad but as an additional content device with its own unique feature (it had an S-Pen, and this was before the iPad Pro and its Apple Pencil were even available).

Even now, I have an Amazon Fire 8 tablet, but I use it for a different reason, too (text-to-speech capability in its Kindle app, something not available in iOS Kindle app), and I like it for what it is, but because apps in Android really aren't optimized for tablets like iOS apps are, it's always striking to see how cheesy and crappy Android tablet apps are (for example WSJ) compared to their iOS counterparts (the WSJ app is just a thing of beauty to use, in my opinion).

 

[CarpalMac]

Just so tired of winning.

Market doesn't respect Apple's pure dominance.

Unless you are a shareholder, you are winning nothing. Quite the opposite in fact.

 

[gnasher729]

That's because there was never any consistency in Android tablets. There were so many tablets with different Android versions, screen sizes, resolutions, performance levels. Who would be able to make a tablet app that could run on all the possible devices.

Since I’m busy writing apps that run on iPhone 4s to iPad Pro 12.9”, I suppose it can’t be too difficult for Android devices.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Congrats, Apple. The competition isn't even close, for all intent and purposes.

I got off the Windows and Android bus long ago. Can't see myself ever wanting to return to such a convoluted mess.

 

[gnasher729]

Playing this game as well MR? It's been well established by now that what Apple considers to be "sold" is in reality what others call "shipped".

Excuse me, but everyone knows that Samsung is the king of channel stuffing. Has been for many years. You can listen to Apples earnings call and hear exactly how much channel inventory they have.