iPad still King of the Tablets in 2015, but what is Next?
While overall sales may be coming at a slower pace, there is no doubt about it: Apple is still king of the tablet. Yes, it does have to trouble Apple somewhat that the tablet market is seeing a decline by 22.9% from the first fiscal quarter of 2014 to the Q1, 2015, but that 26.8% of the total market share they grabbed has to feel good.
Another figure they have 12.6 million reasons to feel good about is the number of iPads they sold in the first quarter of this year. This large number comes in spite of the fact that, during the first quarter of this year, the overall tablet market actually shrunk to 26.8%. Hot on their tails is a familiar foe, the Korean tech giant Samsung, with a total of 9 million tablets shipped for a good 19.1% chunk of the pie. This represents a pretty big loss for the Apple rival as well, a decline representing 16.5% less overall sales.
The market for detachables has certainly gained a lot of steam with devices like Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 receiving favourable reviews amongst both the press and the consumers alike. Most recently, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Book Pro, a tablet with keyboard attached that is styled and named suspiciously similarly to its Apple ultrabook rival, the MacBook Pro. This is noteworthy in particular for the extra horsepower it packs, useful for graphics intensive applications that professionals who would find a use for the tablet could take advantage of.
The trend is clear: smart phones are veering closer in size and capability to tablets (with some phones even coming with styluses as a big marketing point) and the phablet revolution has already been underway for some time. Versatility seems to be what consumers are asking for more and more these days, thus the design we see from Microsoft of an ultrabook married to a tablet, replete with the kind of hardware punch and battery life one would expect from a top shelf laptop. If the Redmond tech giant has a big hit on its hands, could we expect a similar product from Apple?
Thus far, in the post-Jobs era, Apple has already shown much more of a willingness to diverge from the one-size-fits-all mentality, branching out with various versions of their vaunted iPhone and iPad lines. It appears as if not even the incredible App Store marketplace, with games like iPad casino apps, is enough to slow down the decline. Again, this is a big if, but should detachables with the kind of specs to match the MacBook Pro become a hit in the near future, there is a good chance we could see a similar detachable variant of the MacBook series coming to Apple Stores near you.
As industry analysts like IDC portend the continuing downward trend of tablets across the board, in no small part due to recent discouraging numbers, it is reasonable to ask if the initial success of tablets did not have more to do with novelty value than actual functionality. Perhaps the tablet bubble is shrinking because an under-powered, overpriced device is losing its sheen, especially since most do not come with keyboards, an essential utility in user input. And as smart phones become more ubiquitous, tablets will have to find a way to carve out a new niche.
The lighter, smaller, cuter path the iPad Air line has taken is an evolutionary step that may not be enough. And while the recent launch of iOS 9 is much needed in terms of taking advantage of the extra horsepower available on tablets and not being designed around the power and screen limitations of a smart phone, that alone may not be enough to boost sagging sales. Only time will tell, but if history has shown us anything, it is that Apple and the tablet industry as a whole will adapt to changing demands and take the next step forward in innovation to revitalise consumer interest.