Apple just has its quarterly earnings call and once again, Tim Cook has had to defend the iPad amid declining sales of the tablet. According to the Apple CEO, while iPad sales numbers are on the decline, “underlying data” suggests that there is still potential for future growth when it comes to the tablet.
iPad sales have dipped by 23% year-on-year, shipping 12.6 million during the first quarter of this year. Additionally, iPad revenue actually dipped below Mac revenue, something that had only happened once before a few years back. Tim Cook does acknowledge why iPad sales are dipping though, noting that strong sales of the new iPhone 6 Plus are putting some off from also owning an iPad.
Apple is going to continue investing in the iPad “product pipeline” according to Cook, although he did not predict when he thinks the iPad will return to growth, he did say that it will eventually. The reference to the iPad product pipeline is an interesting one as Apple has been long rumored to be expanding its tablet lineup with a new 12-inch model dubbed the ‘iPad Pro'.
While the iPad is slowly declining, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are both doing very well in terms of sales. We also already know that the Apple Watch is receiving high amounts of pre-orders. In-fact, many models won't even ship until sometime in July.
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KitGuru Says: Many people don't feel the need to upgrade their tablets as often as their smartphone. In-fact, the iPad 2 is still widely supported by many app developers. It just seems that Apple is having a harder time convincing people to upgrade their tablet as opposed to other devices in the eco-system.