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Tablet sales have been on a tear over the past year but demand have dropped off significantly this past quarter. IDC, in its latest tablet tracker report, has seen a sequential quarter over quarter shipping decline of -9.7{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b}. This is the first decline of tablet sales IDC has seen and one of the major contributors could be prospective buyers delaying their purchases in the hopes that Apple might soon launch the new iPad 5 or iPad mini 2.
Apple’s iPad sales declined from 19.5 million in the Q1 to 14.6 million units in the second quarter of this year. The decline is largely attributed to the lack of a new iPad in Q2 but growing pressure from popular Android tablets has also begun to eat into Apple’s dominant marketshare. Global tablet shipments for the past quarter hit 45.1 million units which was a 59.6{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b} increase compared to a year ago quarter when tablet sales hit 28.3 million devices.
Apple recently switched up its normal iPad release cycle from an early February or March launch and moved the iPad 4 and iPad mini launch to the end of last year. Many buyers were hoping Apple would surprise the market with a Q2 launch for the highly anticipated iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 but the Cupertino tech giant has so far given no indication that a new iPad is coming anytime soon. While Apple is keeping mum, most experts peg a new iPad launch to sometime late Q3 or early Q4 to coincide with the start of the holiday shopping season.
“A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors,” said Tom Mainelli, Research Director, Tablets at IDC. “With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that’s likely to continue into the third quarter. However, by the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market.”
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