Apple's iPad tablet sales have been in constant decline for 13 consecutive fiscal quarters, a sign that the problems are far from over. Apple announced that in Q1 2017 it sold 8.9 million iPad tablets worldwide, 1.4 million units less than in the same period last year.
Although the iPad remained the most popular tablet among consumers, Apple's market share fell by 1.3% in a year, the company still wound up in the top of tablet sellers. Although sales of iPad tablets fell in the first fiscal quarter of 2017, Samsung managed to keep their sales at the same level, at least in theory, because they do not disclose to the public how much they sell.
However, IDC estimates that the entire tablet market recorded a decrease in sales of 3.4 million units compared to Q1 2016, or approximately 10%. In the top 5, only Apple and Lenovo recorded sales decreases, the rest of the manufacturers managed to sell at least as much as last year, Huawei recording an increase in sales.
The drop in sales of iPad tablets reduced Apple's revenues from the sale of these products by 600 million dollars, the loss being large. Reasons for the continued decline in iPad sales can be found without problems, but what Apple does not find is a method by which to make its products popular again for its customers.
"The rate at which the tablet market grew from 2010 to 2013 was unlike many other consumer-oriented device markets we've seen before," said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC. "However, it appears for many reasons consumers became less eager to refresh these devices, or in some instances purchase them at all. We continue to believe the leading driver for this was the increased dependency on smartphones, along with rather minimal technology and form factor progression."
