Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple's Lead in Tablet Market Share Shrinks as Consumer Satisfaction Slips Slightly
Apple continues to rank among the world's top tablet manufacturers both in customer satisfaction and shipments, according to reports released today by J.D Power and IDC, although the company is showing some signs of weakness as lower-cost competitors gain momentum and consumers look for more innovation in Apple's tablet lineup. Apple fell slightly behind Amazon in J.D. Power's semiannual customer satisfaction survey, while the company's lead in worldwide tablet shipping volume continues to shrink.
Worldwide tablet shipments in 3Q14 in millions of units (Source: IDC)
According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, Apple remains the global tablet market leader, despite a 12.8 percent decline in quarterly shipments year-over-year. Apple shipped 12.3 million units in Q3 2014, edging out both Samsung, which shipped 9.9 million units, and coming in well ahead of Asus, which climbed to the number three spot with 3.5 million units shipped.
Apple's iPad shipments (red) and share of worldwide tablet shipments (blue) for 2Q11–3Q14 (Source: IDC)
Apple's market share is projected to increase in Q4 2014 due to the introduction of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, but the jump will likely be tempered as more consumers hold onto their existing tablets for a longer period. IDC also predicts iPad shipments will continue to be eclipsed by the popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Tablet Satisfaction Study—Volume 2
Apple had reclaimed the top spot in J.D. Power's survey earlier this year after losing it to Samsung in the late 2013 rankings.
Apple now is offering its most expansive phone and tablet lineup to date, selling both older iPhone and iPad models, along with the new 4.7-inch iPhone 6, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, the Touch ID-enabled iPad mini 3 and the slimmer and faster iPad Air 2. Apple's ecosystem will expand again with the early 2015 debut of the Apple Watch, the company's first entry into the exploding wearables market.
According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, Apple remains the global tablet market leader, despite a 12.8 percent decline in quarterly shipments year-over-year. Apple shipped 12.3 million units in Q3 2014, edging out both Samsung, which shipped 9.9 million units, and coming in well ahead of Asus, which climbed to the number three spot with 3.5 million units shipped.
Apple's market share is projected to increase in Q4 2014 due to the introduction of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, but the jump will likely be tempered as more consumers hold onto their existing tablets for a longer period. IDC also predicts iPad shipments will continue to be eclipsed by the popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
"Although the low-cost vendors are moving a lot of volume, the top vendors, like Apple, continue to rake in the dollars," said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. "A sub-$100 tablet simply isn't sustainable—Apple knows this—and it's likely the reason they aren't concerned with market share erosion."While Apple remains first in market share, the company lost its number one spot in the latest J.D. Power tablet satisfaction study. Apple scored 824, taking the number two slot behind Amazon and its inexpensive line of Fire tablets. Samsung took the third slot, trailing the two market leaders with a score of 821. J.D. Power measures satisfaction on a 1,000-point scale using five criteria which include performance, ease of operation, feature set, styling/design and cost.
Apple had reclaimed the top spot in J.D. Power's survey earlier this year after losing it to Samsung in the late 2013 rankings.
Apple now is offering its most expansive phone and tablet lineup to date, selling both older iPhone and iPad models, along with the new 4.7-inch iPhone 6, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, the Touch ID-enabled iPad mini 3 and the slimmer and faster iPad Air 2. Apple's ecosystem will expand again with the early 2015 debut of the Apple Watch, the company's first entry into the exploding wearables market.
Related Roundup: iPad
Tags: IDC, J.D. Power
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Caution)
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62 months ago
I have a feeling that many cheaper tablets are bought and played with for the first few days (perhaps a couple of weeks) and then end up going untouched for large chunks of time.
Yeah, because this is the same thing that's been happening quarter after quarter. People just keep buying cheap tablets and not using them. They must have so much disposable money to keep doing that.
62 months ago
people are fed up with using their ipad as an expensive toilet read? :)
for me, two reasons:
ios 8 is not professional enough
ipad mini got beaten by the lame stick
for me, two reasons:
ios 8 is not professional enough
ipad mini got beaten by the lame stick
62 months ago
It is not surprising when many customers found their iPhone 6+ were as bent as Tim Cook.
This story is about iPads, and I find your attempt of humor in light of recent news to be rather pathetic.
I wish we still had the down vote button.
62 months ago
I have a feeling that many cheaper tablets are bought and played with for the first few days (perhaps a couple of weeks) and then end up going untouched for large chunks of time.
62 months ago
This was bound to happen. However I think that at least to me, the biggest downfall of the iPad is the software. That is where Apple really needs to innovate. iOS 9 needs to be huge. Split screen Multitasking, widgets, etc. all need to be a focus for the iPads.
62 months ago
They really need to make the iPad OS less like a stretched up iPhone.
Take the Music app. Back in iOS 3/4 it was fantastic and really made great use of the screen estate. Now in iOS 7/8 it's just the iPhone app with some controls thrown on at the top.
The iPad has always had this problem to some extent, but it's made more apparent with iOS 7/8. Hopefully they'll spend this year redesigning the iPad OS much like they did with the iPhone and Mac.
Take the Music app. Back in iOS 3/4 it was fantastic and really made great use of the screen estate. Now in iOS 7/8 it's just the iPhone app with some controls thrown on at the top.
The iPad has always had this problem to some extent, but it's made more apparent with iOS 7/8. Hopefully they'll spend this year redesigning the iPad OS much like they did with the iPhone and Mac.
62 months ago
This was bound to happen. However I think that at least to me, the biggest downfall of the iPad is the software. That is where Apple really needs to innovate. iOS 9 needs to be huge. Split screen Multitasking, widgets, etc. all need to be a focus for the iPads.
Personally I don't care about how many screens it can split into or how many more popup widget and crap it can show. I'd rather they fix it so that I know what to click on and when. The number of times I have to tell non-Pro users, "yes that's a button" or "I know it doesn't make sense, but tap it anyway" is getting ridiculous. I'm also getting tired of "buttons" showing up in all four corners of the screen. Edit, Cancel, OK, Share "buttons" pop up all over the place with no consistency. From iOS7 on iOS looks like a joke.
62 months ago
No surprise, really. It seems like they werent really invested anymore. ios 8 does basically nothing, tablet-specific new and ipad air 2 is nothing more than a thinner ipad air 1. These are not bad products, but they don't seem to push the category as forward as its relatively young age would deserve
So you're saying the A7 is the same as the A8X and 1GB RAM is the same as 2GB RAM ?
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