The latest numbers from market research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker show that Apple remains the largest vendor in a declining tablet market, shipping 10.9 million iPads in the second quarter of 2015. While the iPad continues to be the best-selling tablet, its worldwide market share fell below 25% as Apple faced increased competition from low-cost rivals Lenovo, Huawei and LG.
Samsung continued to be the second largest tablet vendor with 7.6 million tablets shipped in the second quarter and 17% market share, a 12% year-over-year unit decline. Lenovo, Huawei and LG Electronics rounded off the top five, with 2.5 million, 1.6 million and 1.6 million global tablet shipments in the second quarter respectively. All other tablet vendors had a combined 45.6% market share.
iPad sales have declined for six consecutive quarters year-over-year in what has become a stagnated tablet market over the past few years, but that trend could be broken in a few months as Apple is expected to release up to three new iPads in time for the holiday shopping season: iPad Air 3, iPad mini 4 and the much-rumored 12.9-inch "iPad Pro" targeted at professional and enterprise users.
According to the latest rumors, Apple is close to launching its next-generation iPad mini. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over 20 months ago. Read on to find out.
Processor and Performance
Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to information found in...
Apple has stopped signing several older versions of iOS for a group of legacy iPhone and iPad models, cutting off the paths to reinstall or downgrade the affected software.
Apple will no longer validate over-the-air (OTA) or direct IPSW installs of the builds in question. Once a version is unsigned, there is no longer a way to restore or install it through Finder or iTunes.
The change is...
Apple is allegedly using a 60Hz 8.4-inch display panel in the upcoming OLED iPad mini, which is expected to be released later this year.
The information comes courtesy of a hit-and-miss tipster running the account "yeux1122" on the Korean Naver blog. The leaker claims to have been told by a source in Apple's supply chain that the unreleased iPad mini is equipped with a low-temperature...
I think we're coming to see that tablets are a lot like PCs in regards to how often they will be upgraded by users. They had the large initial boom of sales to get them into the market, now people are just keeping what they have since it's good enough. The iPad 2 still gets the job done for most people and most businesses who purchase them in bulk are also still using iPad 2s. No reason to get a newer model.
In fact I think tablets will be upgraded even less often than PCs going forward as they are the least essential device between computers, smartphones, and tablets.
I don't think releasing an iPad-speed bump will increase marketshare a lot. The iPad Air 2 is IMHO the best update to date, but that didn't really help improve marketshare.
It's time for a "different" iPad... something more than just a blown-up iPod Touch.
I stopped using my iPad when I got my iPhone 6 Plus. My guess is that's the direction personal computing will head. Your phone will be the hub. It'll act as a mobile device when on the go, but when you get home, it'll wirelessly connect to some sort of Cinema Display.
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.