Despite the serious drop in sales, iPad tablets still remain in the top of the best-selling tablets in Q4 2016, but with a narrower margin compared to Samsung. Apple sold 13.1 million iPad tablets in Q4 2016, 3 million units less than in Q4 2015, the percentage decrease being 19% in just one year.
Although iPad tablets have decreased in sales, Samsung did not have a better evolution either, its sales of tablets falling by 1 million units, from 9 to 8 million. Amazon also had a negative evolution, but much smaller, those from Huawei and Lenovo still having increases of 43.5 and 14.8%, respectively, compared to Q4 2015.
Despite the decrease in sales of iPad tablets, the market share held by Apple increased from 24.3% to 24.7%, and this against the background of a massive decrease in tablet sales. At the global level, sales of tablets fell by no less than 20%, or 13.3 million units, a sign that the world is no longer interested in these products.
Practically, the market of tablets is losing ground in front of that of computers, despite the fact that most analysts announced that the latter is "dying". The reality is that people buy tablets much less often and are no longer as interested in them because of the many limitations they have.
"Apple's venerable hold on the tablet market is yet to be challenged although the company is not immune to overall market challenges, declining 18.8% in 4Q16. The iPad Pro lineup made up only a small portion of overall shipments as the iPad Air 2 and Mini tablets continued to account for the majority of the shipments for Apple. For every 10 slate tablets shipped, Apple only sold 1 iPad Pro tablet.”
