It seems that the tides are turning in the tablet market these days as Apple's dominance with the iPad continues to slowly decline, meanwhile Microsoft's own efforts seem to be paying off, with Surface sales on the rise. It turns out that Microsoft tablet sales have risen by 38 percent in just one quarter, with the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book generating around $926 million in revenue.
This is all during Microsoft's first fiscal quarter of the year. Surface devices have generated $926 million in revenue, which is 38 percent up from the $672 million generated just a year ago.
Meanwhile, Apple hasn't been able to spark its iPad lineup back into growth. According to a report from Cnet, Apple's iPad sales have fallen by 9 percent this quarter, this has been a common occurrence recently, with this being the 10th straight quarter in which iPad sales have dipped. That said, with more expensive iPad models now on the market, like the iPad Pro, actual revenue has been growing, balancing out the drop in overall unit sales.
At the moment, analysts are currently expecting Apple to report 9.1 million iPad sales during the last quarter. Unfortunately, Microsoft isn't reporting unit sales figures for its Surface devices at this time, so we can't make a direct comparison there.
KitGuru Says: Apple have been struggling to spark up new sales when it comes to the iPad in recent years. Tim Cook initially predicted that the iPad Pro would return the product line to growth but that doesn't appear to have been the case. Things do seem to be going well for Microsoft and the Surface though, despite recent battery issues reported by users.
iPads last a long time, i’m still using my iPad 2. Maybe next year i’ll get a new one cause its finally starting to show its age while web browsing.
The AppStore was the backbone of the iPad. It’s a total mess now, IAPs ruined it, you can’t purchase a simple app anymore, they all have built in limitations which you quickly reach and then you have to pay again and again and again to achieve functionality that should have been in the app from 1st purchase. Parents can no longer buy their kids games as there also full of ads and IAPs. The final straw was the recent introduction of app rental fees. Apple bled it dry and people are leaving their ecosystem in droves as a result.