iPad shipments grew only slightly last quarter, according to a market research firm, despite the release of new high-end and mid-range tablets in the spring. The lack of a new entry-level tablet from Apple significantly affected the shipment total.
Still, Apple itself showed a larger year-over-year bump in revenue during the third quarter of 2024 from this class of computer.
Apple Q3 2024 tablet shipments a minor success
Apple’s tablet shipments were in a slump for all of 2023 for a simple reason: it didn’t introduce any new models during the entire year. That only changed in May of 2024. And while that brought an 18% increase in shipments to Q2, demand was slowing by Q3.
“Apple shipped 12.6 million units, with a modest growth of 1.4% year over year in the quarter,” said analysts with IDC. “Back to school season helped boost sales for the newly launched iPad Air model.”
The M2 iPad Air is one of the iPadOS models that launched in the spring, along with the M4 iPad Pro. But the Pro model apparently isn’t doing as well.
“The new iPad Pro performed below expectations as their prices are too steep and unattractive in emerging markets,” reported IDC.
There has not been a new budget iPad since autumn 2022, and one isn’t expected until spring 2025. This means a sizable jump in Apple tablet shipments in Q4 2024 over the same quarter of 2023 is unlikely, despite the recent launch of the iPad mini 7.
While shipment growth was anemic, tablet revenue grew somewhat more. Apple reported last week that it took in $7.0 billion from tablet sales in the September quarter, up 8% year over year.
Versus the competition
Apple remains the world’s largest tablet maker, just as it has been since the iPad transformed the market in 2010. It ships about twice as many units as any of its rivals. That said, its biggest competitors all saw significantly stronger growth than the iPad in the September quarter.
iPad made up 32% of the global market in the September quarter, according to IDC, while Samsung made up 18%. The two are closer than usual because total Samsung tablet quarterly shipments increased 18% year over year. “In Q3, their low-end Galaxy A9 models drove their sales across most regions,” said IDC.
Amazon’s tablet shipments more than doubled — up 111% year over year. That gave it 12% of the global market in Q3. “3Q24 sales came mainly from their Prime Day deals,” reported IDC.
Both Huawei and Lenovo controlled about 8% of the market, with their total quarterly shipments up 15% and 22%, respectively.
