“Tablets like the iPad are losing favor with consumers who are opting instead for smartphones with larger screens, putting pressure on Apple Inc. to cater to changing tastes,” Crayton Harrison reports for Bloomberg.
“Research firm IDC lowered its 2014 forecast for tablet shipments today, saying they’ll climb 12 percent to 245.4 million units worldwide,” Harrison reports. “That’s down from an earlier forecast of 260.9 million, and it compares with a growth rate of 52 percent last year.”
MacDailyNews Take: A few words about IDC’s predictive abilities:
• IDC: Windows Phone to surpass Apple’s iOS by 2015 – June 10, 2011
• IDC: Windows Phone to pass Apple’s iOS by 2016 – June 6, 2012
• Exposing IDC’s, Gartner’s, and Strategy Analytics’ PC, phone and tablet data on Apple – November 16, 2013IDC’s forecasts are hardly gospel.
“Larger smartphones, which IDC calls ‘phablets’ since they combine features of phone and tablets, represented 10.5 percent of smartphone sales in the first quarter, up from 4.3 percent a year earlier, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm said,” Harrison reports. “Apple is working to catch up with the trend, developing new iPhone designs that have larger screens with curved glass, a person familiar with the plans said in November.”
“The iPhone and the iPad together represent about three-quarters of Apple’s total revenue, making it crucial for the Cupertino, California-based company to stay on top of consumers’ preferences,” Harrison reports. “iPad sales volume dropped 16 percent last quarter from a year earlier, the steepest drop on record.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: First of all: Crayton Harrison reporting for Bloomberg News lies by omission. Here’s why iPad sales volume dropped 16 percent YOY last quarter:
iPad sales came in at the high end of our expectations, but we realized they were below analyst estimates, and I would like to proactively address, why we think there was a difference. We believe almost all of the difference can be explained by two factors. First, in the March quarter last year, we significantly increased iPad channel inventory, while this year we significantly reduced it. Luca will go into more detail about this later.
Second, we ended the December quarter last year with a substantial backlog with iPad mini that was subsequently shipped in the March quarter, whereas we ended the December quarter this year near supply demand balance. We continue to believe that the tablet market will surpass the PC market in size within the next few years and we believe that Apple will be a major beneficiary of this trend… Additionally, over two-third’s of people registering an iPad in the last six months, were new to iPad, while over half of the people registering iPhones were new to iPhone. – Apple CEO Timothy Cook, April 23, 2014
As Tim explained earlier, our iPad results and the comparison to the March quarter last year were heavily influenced by channel inventory changes. Specifically, this year we saw 16.4 million iPads into our channels and sold through almost 17.5 million reducing our channel inventory by 1.1 million units.
Last year we sold over 19.4 million iPads into our channels and sold through 18 million and therefore increased channel inventory by 1.4 million units. As a result, the year-over-year sell through decline was only 3% compared to the sell in decline of 16%. We exit the March quarter with 5.1 million units of iPad channel inventory, which left us within our target range of four to six weeks. – Luca Maestri, Apple Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller, April 23, 2014
Secondly, people with discretionary income and the proven will to spend it – in other words: Apple customers – can afford both a proper smartphone and a proper tablet. That’s what we have with iPhone 5s and iPad Air. For Apple to educate the ignorati and to also accommodate customers in emerging markets who desire to join the unmatched Apple ecosystem, a larger iPhone would be welcome. Apple’s goal is to delight customers, not to provide compromised products. Those who attempt to get proper smartphone experience (small, light, fits in your pocket) and a proper tablet experience (large screen, apps designed for tablets) with a “phablet” will only get the worst of both worlds.
This is not to say that Apple should not produce a larger screen iPhone. iPhone could have a larger screen (4.7-inch) and still be small enough to fit in your pocket and light enough to carry all day.
The people who buy phablets, for the most part, fall into three categories, some of which overlap:
• Those who cannot afford or do not want to pay for both a proper smartphone and a proper tablet. (Suboptimal customers who buy little or nothing after the sale.)
• Those who have never really used a smartphone and have not done proper research prior to purchase. (Potential exists to educate these customers.)
• Those who cannot adequately see images and text via iPhone’s current maximum 4-inch screen. (Most of these customers, we believe, would by Apple customers if they could.)The latter two groups should be Apple’s focus with a larger screen iPhone as they have the most potential to become valuable Apple customers who actively participate in the ecosystem. As for the first group, even with little to gain from them after the sale, the more Apple can snatch away from Android with a larger iPhone, the more pain Apple can cause the slavish copiers, the better.
My iPad lost favour because whilst great I found that I’d as often prefer to use my iMac or iPhone when at home, or when out and about it was easier to just carry my iPhone. Personally I’m not bothered about a larger screen, I just have no need for three devices, and I’m not going to do without my iPhone or Mac. I still use my iPad 1 but I’m certainly in no hurry to replace it.
If I had an iPad 1, I would not want to use it ether.
Must be illiterate.
While I use my cellular iPad everywhere the main reason I bought an original iPad was to have it in bed and get the full on Internet, book reading experience and not have to be sitting at a computer to get it. I can’t imagine going back nor an iPhone being as satisfying. iPad fills a gap other devices can’t match as well.
So carry your Mac to the coffee shop to read books on, of carry a magnifying glass so you can read the New York Times on your phone.
I’m on an iPad 3 after owning the original iPad beginning on the day it was released, so that’s more than four years of using iPads.
I continue to use my iPad at least two hours per day, seven days a week. The device that I hardly use anymore is our MacBook Pro.
I have seen more and more people who like me have all three devices (iPhone, iPad, MB) to choose to rely on their iPhone.
This is happening to people who can afford to have all the devices but choose to use their iPhone due to convenience alone.
I believe a larger iPhone will be the goto device for these people even more. Furthermore, I believe the trend will be similar for those who may not be able to afford to have multiple devices.
This does pressure the iPad market but I believe while iPad demand will be reduced by the likes of people I mentioned above, Apple will introduce new functionality and will expand the range of people who will use the device in work related.
I for one tend to use my iPhone when on the road, met mac when seating at a table with the iPad as a supporting screen, and use my iPad when relaxing all evening.
I use all 3 devices.
My iPad is the iPad mini.
I would like my next iPhone to have 128 GB of storage. My current iPhone is a 4s.
I don’t have any strong feelings about screen size at this point.
screen size and overall weight, meh
battery time and STORAGE? I’M IN !-)
I hope apple giveway to get a slot, sandboxed and firewalled, for only apple apps like movies and music etc…
no danger,
Where i travel there is not always the intertubes of things available
iFlyalot
I genuinely hate “phablets”. A phone should be compact enough to fit in your jeans pockets, not some great big sodding thing that whenever you use it makes you look like you’re talking into a Kindle.
I use my iPhone on the go and both my Mac and iPad – 1st generation – at home along with my Mac. For me the iPad is an informal info consumption device used throughout the house where my Mac Mini is used at my desk and is used for data storage and processing – iPhoto, iTunes, Pages, Numbers, etc. Most people I know do not replace their iPads as frequently as they do their iPhones. iPads are well built and last. iPhones are well built and last too but American teleco’s have taught the American public to upgrade their phones every 2 to 3 years.
Why can’t I make a phone call with my iPad (Air, VZW)? It’s not the iPad’s fault.
I was driving somewhere and asked Suri to look up the phone number for some westawant (if you watch The Big Bang Theory) and she said that I couldn’t make calls from this iPad. I didn’t want to make a call — I just wanted the phone number, so I could text it to someone else and have them call. I can do texting with TextMe. Once again, the Walled Garden is full of cacti.
The larger iPhone is designed for older people with poor focus, limited dexterity, macular degeneration. It’s not all about YOU!
Not me. I use my retina iPad Mini more than my iPhone or Retina Macbook Pro. It has a perfect form factor, LTE and 128gb of space. Maybe that will change when I trade in my 4S for a 6, but the iPad Mini hits all the marks for me.
The iPad is the best consumer electronic ever created. Period.
There will never be a phone that I want to carry in my pocket on a daily basis that will be big enough to replace the iPad I use while sitting on the couch watching TV (yes, contrary to my wife’s opinion, I *can* multitask) or in bed at night. The phone isn’t big enough (and if it were, it wouldn’t be the phone I would carry!), and a laptop is too burdensome.
I have a trip overseas coming up, and I’m sure I’ll use all three devices on the plane – the phone becomes an iPod, the laptop will get pulled out for some “heavy lifting” work, and the iPad will be used for light entertainment beyond just music. (Thank goodness planes now have power outlets!)
The iPad is still a great device with a solid place in our lives.
People in developing countries that can only afford one device one data/phone plan want a bigger device. If you can afford it you want two. As both devices serve different needs. Watching a movie on a 5inch or 4inch device is awful.
Apple has successfully adapted to the movement of consumer tastes in sizes of computing devices and I have no doubt they will continue to adjust the “sizes” to suit tastes in the future.
Another non-article bit of fiction.
A phone is a phone and a tablet is a tablet. Yes if I move around I use my phone to do email. If I am at the home or cottage I use my iPad 4. If I am doing serious work, I use the iMac in my office. If I am mobile, I use my MBP. All have their use and place and not having one of them would create a hole in the way I operate.
Big phones are stupid. I see too many assholes in the movie theater on their big honking Samsungs NOT watching the movie but dicking around on their phones. Everyone loves headlights shining in their frikken eyes during a movie right?
To be honest I think the problem would be that iPads have a long life and though many would like to replace them don’t feel compelled to in the way that an iPhone demands if they use it as a constant companion. Cant see me replacing my 2+ year old iPad for a couple more years to be honest while it works fine though couldn’t stand being without it.
iPhone x 3, iPad, Mac Mini (home media center), MacBook Pro (me), Mac Book Air x 2 (wife, brother-in-law), Mac Pro (me), iMac (sister), and a 2004 iBook with ~2h battery life (dad). All of them are wonderful tools.
Looking forward for more Apples.
No ‘roids in our house.
The most intense user of our iPad Air is our 3 year old daughter, who unlocks it, scrolls to Amazon Prime, and watches her favorite videos. My wife and I pretty much prefer our MacBook Pros or our iPhones.
The iPad, iPhone and – uhh – Apple are doomed because – uhhhh – it’s, uh, Friday. Or something.
The big news on Monday won’t be bigger i-gizmos.
Ready?
A bigger mac mini!
“We’ve adopted a new ‘tower’ design! Our old friend the
Mini is now the size of the retired Mac Pro! In fact, the
Mini has become our tribute to the venerated ten year
running design of the stalwart old Mac Pro. The big
auto companies are making big bucks with retro
1960’s muscle car models, so went with our
last decade’s big design champ!”
(doing the inventory someone found a warehouse
filled with old G5 cases, well over a quarter million.
Cheaper to pull a stunt like this than to pay to
destroy them. Or worse.. someone might
see Apple paying to have them destroyed!)