What you need to know
- iPad shipments climbed 4% year on year in Q3 of 2019.
- Apple shipped more than 10 million tablets, even though the market shrunk as a whole by 4%.
- Apple now owns more than a quarter of the vendor market, but 60% of tablets run on Android.
A report from Strategy Analytics suggests that Apple's iPad continues to enjoy strong performance, despite the fact that the tablet market shrunk globally by 4% in Q3 of 2019.
As reported by Business Wire, the surprise performer was actually Amazon, who posted year-on-year growth of 141%, shipping 5.3 million tablets to become the second-largest vendor ahead of Samsung, and increasing its market share to nearly 14%.
As per these results, Apple's continued iPad growth means it retains its place as the number one vendor in the global tablet market, increasing its share to 26.5%, up from 24.4% this time last year. Of course, there are a number of vendors shipping tablets that run on Android. As such, Android remains firmly in control of the global tablet market in terms of operating system, with 60.5% of tablets running on Android, down from 61.3% year-on-year.
iPad sales were no doubt buoyed in part by the release of Apple's new 10.2-inch iPad 7. The 2019 release is a killer deal, retailing at $329 and shipping with support for Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, just ask Rene Ritchie.
Investors and Apple will be encouraged by the fact that iPad shipments have grown in the face of a shrinking tablet market. Other factors behind its continued success no doubt include the introduction of Apple Arcade, along with controller support for Playstation and Xbox One S Controllers. With Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard support, along with some mouse compatibility, the gap between iPad and computer has never been closer. Not only are shipments up overall, but the average selling price of iPad rose by 9%, thanks to a strong iPad Pro lineup.
