While Apple’s iPad might have reignited the market and demand for consumer-friendly tablets, the past few years have shown that the tablet market is actually on an overall decline. According to the folks at Strategy Analytics, the number of shipments in the past quarter has decreased compared to the previous year.For example Apple’s shipments of iPads dropped from 16.1 million in Q4 2015 to 13.1 million in Q4 2016. Samsung has also seen a similar decline from 9 million to 8.1 million. Interestingly enough companies such as Amazon have actually seen an uptake on shipping from 3.5 million to 4.2 million, but overall it seems that the tablet market has declined by about 9%.
So what does that mean for Apple’s iPad? The good news is that Apple appears to be soldiering on. According to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, “We’ve got some exciting things coming on iPad and I’m optimistic about where things are headed. Customer satisfaction is through the roof. iPad Pro at 99%. So I see a lot of good things and hope for better results.”
We’re not sure what “exciting things” he might be talking about, but last we heard there were rumors that Apple could have a new 10.5-inch iPad in the works, and that the next-gen Apple Pencil could come with magnets for easier storage, but either way we’ll have to wait and see for when the tablets are officially announced.
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