The Tablet Market May Be Dying But 2-In-1 Tablets Are Set To Rescue The Market From Decline

Even though Apple as of the second quarter of this year still led the tablet market, its share of that same market has been on the decline. According to IDC (a market research company), Apple had a tablet shipment year over year growth of -9.2 percent and at a 25.8 percent market share in the second quarter of 2016. Strategy Analytics (a business consulting and market research company) came out with its now report that showed that Apple’s iPad jumped from 19.1 percent share of the market in the third quarter of 2015 to 19.9 percent in the same quarter in 2016. This represents a 0.8 percent growth and this is some good news for Apple that has been the focus of several analysis especially with respect to revenue from its most priced commodity, the iPhone. iPhone sales figures have not been encouraging but maybe with the absence of a formidable device from Samsung this season, it could reclaim some of the lost glory. Another reason why Apple should welcome this news is because, Strategy Analytics notes that the overall tablet market shrank about 10 percent. This means that while there may have been an overall shrinking, Apple’s was just slower than others and this puts the entire tablet market in focus.

One notable exception though is Amazon’s Fire tablet whose shipments actually more than doubled. “Amazon has achieved strong sales of its $49 7-inch Fire Tablet, reaching a broad range of consumers looking for an entertainment tablet with key content tie-ins to the growing Amazon ecosystem.”

The main point I though was interesting in the report though is that 2-in-1 tablets like Apple’s iPad Pro and Lenovo’s Yoga Book may actually be the future. The report suggests that the iPad Pro may have been responsible for the slight Apple improvement and could actually change Apple’s fortunes in the long term.

Here’s a quick summary of their findings;

• Apple iOS shipments (sell-in) fell 6% annually at 9.3 million iPads in Q3 2016 leaving it with a worldwide market share of 20% of the Tablet market. Meanwhile, ASPs climbed 6% year-on-year to $459 as a higher mix of premium Pro devices boosted revenue.
• Android-branded vendors shipped 30.1 million units among them worldwide in Q3 2016, down 17% from 36.0 million a year earlier and down 1% sequentially. Market share has fallen to 65% as high growth of Windows tablet shipments squeeze Android tablets.
• Windows shipments grew 25% year-on-year at 7.3 million units in Q3 2016, from 5.8 million in Q3 2015, reaching 16% market share.