Apple’s dominance with the iPad is at a decline as lower priced, smaller tablets grab more market share, says Citi’s Apple analysts in a new note this morning. The reason for such a bold statement is Apple’s sales with the 9.7-inch iPad are slipping. Sales for the larger sized iPad didn’t even crack 2 percent, as numbers were only up 1.8 percent on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter.
IDC data broke down the steep decline in great detail. Apple is seeing sales slip in developed markets like the United States and Japan, which is the tech giant’s bread and butter. The iPad is being replaced by the iPad mini and competing seven inch tablets from Samsung and Amazon.
Apple still commands about 39 percent of the market, but it’s significantly down from its peak of 56.8 percent in the second quarter of last year. Amazon was able to snag 15.5 percent of the market, while Samsung took in 13.1 percent of the market.
The way I look at this is Apple’s ridiculous profit margins for its products were going to come down eventually. But is it time to panic? No. The suits who work for the financial companies who cater to the stock market are the only ones making a stink about this. Remember, just like Jim Cramer from CNBC says “ Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered.” Right now, it’s a bear’s market.
Apple’s competition has not only gotten smarter, but they’re offering great quality at an affordable price. Apple for so long has been able to use the quality of products argument to justify its premium price tag, now they can’t do that anymore.
Here is the growth of the 10-inch iPad business:
And here’s the iPad on the decline:
[via Business Insider]