Apple sold 13.1 million tablets in the last quarter of 2016.
Apple is selling fewer iPads, in a contrast to the good growth in other key areas including the iPhone sales. While Cupertino sold 16.1 million tablets in fourth quarter of 2015, the company sold only 13.1 million for the same period last year. According to a market report from Strategy Analytics, analyzed by Windows Phone Area, Apple’s share in the tablet market dropped from 23.2% in 2015 to 20.6% in Q4 2016.
Android tablets are also suffering, shrinking from 44.9 million (65%) to 40.3 million (63%) for a year. But not all Operating Systems are losing. Interestingly, the Windows tablets have increased in popularity in 2016, reaching a respectable share of 16% in Q4.
Apple hopes to reverse the downtrend, promising some “exciting new things coming” in 2017. The 2-in-1 market, discovered by Microsoft with the Surface line, is now explored by some key PC and tablet players like Lenovo. At the same time, Apple is only selling 10% Pro Tablets, and the majority of the sales are thanks to smaller and cheaper models like Air 2 and Mini.
The good news is that Apple is still the top tablet vendor with a 20.6% share, followed by Samsung (12.8%), Amazon (6.7%) and Lenovo (5.8%).
The trends in the tablet market are expected to remain the same in 2017, as not many users are willing the upgrade their devices as often as smartphones, and large phones (around 6- inches) have cannibalized the tablet segment.