Is Apple’s iPad Losing the Tablet Wars?

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Apple surprised us with its remarkable sales last year; however, despite the raging numbers of shipped hardware, the iPad’s year-over-year growth seem to lose its track. DisplaySearch analyst Davis Hsieh believes that this year Apple’s tablet sales could reach as much as 100 million units as demands for iPad mini increases. Over its biggest competitors (Samsung, ASUS, Amazon and Microsoft), Apple is still far away if we’re talking about number of hardware shipped and market share, but their tablet seems to experience a quarter-life crisis with growth.

Based on the quarterly tracker released by IDC recently, tablet shipments in the world are growing 142.4% year over year in Q1 2013. Apple leads the way in market share and unit shipment, but it seems the company lacks in growth compared to its competitors. The year over year growth of Apple records at 65.3%, not bad if you’ll look at it that way. Yet, its biggest competitor, Samsung, grew by 282.6%.

According to IDC analyst To
m Mainelli, “one thing that I think is particularly notable about Apple is that they restarted the tablet market.” However, based on Mainelli’s report, we only see the company’s tablet growth lower because the market has been saturated. With smart tablets offering almost the same (or sometimes even better) features at a lower cost, the Apple brand is just not enough to keep consumers staying.

“Apple’s share is decreasing and they’re ceding share to companies willing to sell tablets for $199, $99, or $79,” Mainelli said. “It was a major concession for them to go down to $329 for the iPad Mini.”

Recently, analysts pointed out that Samsung might take over the tablet wars. In fact, the Korean company was reported to experience a net profit growth of 42% in the first three months of the year. According to Mainelli, Samsung is certainly one of the top threats for Apple, as they are known to massively produce smartphones and tables in various sizes.

However, it’s not all dead and gone for Apple. Despite experiencing a slow growth, Mainelli said that “there are still a lot more regions in the world to conquer.” Although the consumer market may be saturated, the iPads including the iPad minis will continue to grow, as commercial market (businesses and education sector) maintain in making Apple’s tablet their number one choice.

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