The latest report from the global market research firm TrendForce finds that worldwide tablet shipments for this second quarter totaled 33.54 million units, representing a quarterly drop of 4.8% and a year-on-year decline of 8.8%. Apple retains its top position in the quarterly ranking with 9.95 million iPads shipped. This figure translates to a 2.9% dip from the first quarter and a 9% drop from a year ago.
“The lack of changes in appearance and high prices work against the iPad Pro series. Consumers do not see these devices as a good bargain. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro maintained strong sales momentum for two quarters, while the 9.7-inch model lost its luster after just one quarter since its release,” says TrendForce notebook analyst Anita Wang. “On the whole, the Pro series did not help expand iPad shipments in the second quarter as expected. The overall sales were instead sustained by iPad Air 2, which captured consumers’ interest with its reduced price tag.”
Apple has a different take on the matter. The company says that, though unit sales were down in the June quarter from the previous quarter, revenues were up 10% thanks to the iPad Pro. About half of iPad Pro buyers are purchasing them for work, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
And Apple isn’t the only company seeing tablet sales drop. Samsung’s tablet shipments in the second quarter totaled six million units, amounting to a 7.3% fall from the previous quarter and a steep 23.9% decline from a year ago. What’s more, Samsung doesn’t have many new tablets for release this year.
Amazon’s tablet shipments in the second quarter remained constant with the previous quarter, arriving at 2.2 million units. China-based Huawei also grew its tablet shipments against market headwinds by 10% over the prior quarter to 2.2 million units.
