Roger Fingas
Apple's iPad sales were up year-over-year for a second quarter in a row during Q4, possibly suggesting that a wide-ranging refresh has paid off.
The company shipped 10.326 million units worldwide, up 11 percent from 9.267 million in Q4 2016. Revenues rose 14 percent to $4.831 million, and average selling price was up 11.4 percent to $467.85.
It's not clear what drove the improvements, but Apple released three new iPads during 2017: a $329 "budget" iPad, a refreshed 12.9-inch Pro, and a 10.5-inch model replacing the 9.7-inch Pro. 2015's Mini 4 remained on sale, starting at $399.
The new iPad Pros include upgrades like faster A10X processors and ProMotion, which enables a dynamic refresh rate up to 120 hertz.
In mid-September Apple released iOS 11, adding more desktop-like interface features to iPads including a Mac-style dock, drag-and-drop, a Files app, and easier multitasking.
Prior to the June quarter the iPad had been on a constant decline since 2013. That pattern has been blamed on various factors, such as bigger iPhones, longer upgrade cycles, and/or the absence of of any major design changes. The first two iPad Pros were released in late 2015 and early 2016, but their most important changes versus the iPad Air 2 included speed boosts, a 12.9-inch format and the Apple Pencil — as well as higher pricetags.
One possibility is that people who skipped first-generation Pros have found cumulative improvements worth the price. The budget iPad, meanwhile, may be appealing to the educational market as well as people who mainly want a media consumption device.
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33 Comments
I love my new iPad Pro. I use it as my main tool these days.
Looking at the numbers is interesting, because last quarter, the iPad was up 15% YoY. This quarter it was up 11% YoY.
so, two thoughts. One is the hope that we aren’t seeing a short term increase, with next quarter seeing lower growth again.
two is that with the 15% last quarter, we saw a 3% increase in iPad revenue, while with 11% this quarter, we saw a substantial growth in revenue of 14%. So, last quarter’s growth was mainly led by the new 9.7” iPad, while growth this quarter was more even between that one and the iPad Pros. That is a good thing, but has me wondering if the 9.7 sales are tapering off, while Pro sales are growing.
of course, I don’t want to see the 9.7 slowing, because that’s a lot of older iPads out there to be replaced, as well as people who have none now. Though, it was pointed out in the conference call that 54% of the tablets bought in the USA, are iPads, and that 70% of those looking to buy a tablet are looking to buy iPads.
Tim said on the call that the company is "firing on all cylinders." Hard to dispute it.
The product mix at this point is remarkable.
Looking forward to seeing their next thing.