One down point in Apple’s numbers was reported iPad sales. Jason Snell:
Apple sold half as many iPads for the 2016 holiday quarter as it did in 2013.
And:
Meanwhile, average selling price sagged, after a brief buoying caused by the release of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro—a sign that during this sluggish holiday period, iPad sales were largely comprised of older, cheaper models.
I chalk this up to iPad maturity. My iPad is more than a year old, and I don’t have any sense that it is slow, outdated. I use it regularly, and have no performance complaints. Sluggish performance is a major factor that would drive me to replace my iPad.
Jason again:
The iPad has 85 percent of the market of tablets priced over $200. The important facts here: Apple’s not interested in selling a sub-$200 iPad, and so that means it’s doing spectacularly well in the market.
If there’s a problem, it’s that Apple built a product that does what it is supposed to do and does it so well that it does not bear replacement. And that’s not a problem for me.
I’d also add that many (most?) don’t buy a phone outright, so spending $600 or more for a tablet seems obtuse.
I always buy my devices; I never subsidize… but plenty friends and family do, and they think iPads are ‘too expensive.’
It’s frustrating to see so few analysts who acknowledge the entire non-toy tablet market while trying to complain about iPad sales.
That’s why I think carriers moving to an unsubsidized model is nuts. They’ve partially mitigated it with payment plans, but I’m predicting longer replacement cycles for phones as well now as people slowly change their phone purchasing habits once they realize the savings of using a paid off phone for longer.
I spent about $1000 on my iPad 3. It still works OK, is on iOS 10 and I don’t need a new one right now.
the OTHER annoying thing about going to an unsubsized model is that my phone bill did not go down accordingly – or at all (I think it went up slightly, actually). AT&T is better than Verizon – IMHO (due to better customer support IME) yet I’m thinking TMobile is the way to get a good deal – again.
I left Verizon’s crappy “support” when the iPhone 3G came out….
My iPad is over 3 years old (iPad mini 2) and I see no reason to upgrade. It does everything I need it to do and the new models offer only faster processors.
I have an iPad mini 2, and I think it’s probably due for a replacement. Soon. Ish.
That’s solid 2013 technology.
Like a couple of others here I have a Mini 2 and it’s fine. I can’t see any reason to replace it at this point because what I use it for is reading ebooks, hitting up Facebook, Twitter and reading various news sites.
For those of us who don’t challenge the limits of the machine and use iPads mostly as consumption devices with either no content creation or lightweight creation, the iPads have been great for 4 years (since the Mini 2 and Air 2) which is when they added retina screens AND the tech allowed them to keep things quite light.
all of this is great for us. Not so good for Apple sales.
I’m soooooo tired of Jason Snell, Marco Arment, and others take on the iPad. They are focused on the wrong metric over and over and over. It doesn’t matter that sales have been consistently dropping. The real measure of any computer is how many people are buying and using them. All of these people are bullish on the Mac, and yet the iPad has been outselling the Mac since its release by more than double each year. Given the lifecycle of these products, that means that at seven years old, there are easily twice as many iPads in daily use as there are Macs. So tell me again how that is a failure. The guys can’t see the forest for the trees.
None of these guys have called iPad a failure. They’re talking about reasons for flagging iPad sales, and that’s just an objective truth. In fact, I get the impression they’re all rather big fans of the product itself and they’ve acknowledged the longer product replacement cycle for iPad.
Bingo. the ipad sells more than the Mac. but once normals have one, they don’t need to upgrade it often. there is no reason to be concerned about this. just techie echo chamber hand-wringing.
but they frame it in such a way to suggest it’s a mysterious failing within apple’s product strategy. it’s hand-wringing.
That’s why I think iOS for the iPad needs to be different. All that screen space could be to put to more creative use other than bigger gaps between icons.
I’m sure if they tweaked iOS for iPad that just might give many people a reason to upgrade
The success and versatility of microsoft’s surface tablet is probably another factor here. To most people I know who don’t own one, the ipad is more of a luxury toy than any other apple product, including the watch. Anybody else either hardly uses it any more (and is not planning to get another one, because it still does what it does) or is using it constantly for e-mail and web-surfing.
which is funny – you could also buy it on a payment plan and still pay less than for a subsidized version – but it works like this, the same with iphones – i always buy them myself, thus getting a slightly cheaper and carrier unlocked device.
I also have an iPad Mini 2, just over three years old. I’m hoping to replace it this year when the new models come out. Mine still works well and I use it every day for web browsing and music production, but there are two things I really want in a new one: Touch ID so that I don’t have to continually type in my 1Password password, and 2 or more GB of RAM so that Safari’s tabs don’t reload as often.
But fundamentally I think we’re still in the maturation phase of the iPad market. It sold a lot early on because there was an untapped market. Now, I think we’re finding out that 3-5 years is a typical replacement cycle for iPads. The product will continue to be a moneymaker for Apple for quite a while, but it’s not going to be anything like the iPhone, which to be honest, is a once-in-a-lifetime hit – probably none of us will see another success like it, from ANY company, in the next 20 years.
Most high-end phones in the US are purchased; subsidized phones are a rarity nowadays. But my carrier basically offered me a 2-year interest-free loan when I updated to the iPhone 6S in fall 2015; seemed silly not to take that offer – basically free money.
releasing the 12 inch iPad Pro off cycle likely killed the numbers a bit.
another thing that may have killed it is the lack of growth with iOS to make the Pro a bit more laptop like. I’m not saying full on Surface land but how about things like plug ins for apps, especially their own. Pages etc are limited in templates and fonts, for example. and speaking of fonts, why are they app specific and not system level. seems to me that that would make more sense.
I’m still perfectly happy with my iPad Air 2. My wife is still perfectly happy with her iPad 3. For the minimal demands we put on them, they do great.