Apple’s iPad was once at the top of the charts when it came to the tablet market. In fact, back in 2012, Apple’s iPad had a 60% share in shipments, compared to the most recent quarterly share of 27%.
Apple continues to be the world’s leading tablet vendor, but there is no doubt that the iPad is dropping in share as other tablets, including Windows devices, are beginning to take steam. A new chart from Statista visually showcases just how much market share the iPad has lost over the past two years.
“Until recently, Apple, and to a lesser extent Samsung, have been sitting at the top of the market, minimally impacted by the progress from competitors,” said Jitesh Ubrani, Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. “Now we are seeing growth amongst the smaller vendors and a levelling of shares across more vendors as the market enters a new phase.”
Apple’s recent earnings call revealed that iPad sales continue to decline, with the company shipping only 13.3 million iPads during the third fiscal quarter of 2014 (second calendar quarter). This is compared to the 14.6 million shipped a year ago.
Lenovo and Asus are picking up a bit of steam, while the entire tablet market becomes increasingly fragmented. We’re not sure exactly what the “others” are in the chart (pictured above), but we’d like to think it could be Microsoft’s Surface line of tablets, or any tablet manufacturer not listed in the chart.
Microsoft revealed, during its FY14 Q4 results, that revenue from the Surface range was $409 million. Microsoft has yet to provide sales figures for the Surface, but the company’s Surface Pro 3 is proving to be more of a success than previous interations.
As we begin to see more tablets hit the market powered by either Android or Windows, sales of the once-dominant iPad are dropping. And lets not forget about phablets. The tablet market is also still being impacted by the rise of large-screen smartphones (or phablets) and longer than anticipated ownership cycles.
The bottom line is simple. The Apple iPad isn’t as popular as it once was.
