Malcolm Owen
Apple has suffered a major drop in iPad sales in China for the last quarter, according to analysts, with local rival Huawei overtaking Apple as the biggest tablet brand in the country, despite an overall slump in tablet sales for the period.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit many industries, with hardware sales also impacted in a variety of ways, such as with production delays and decreased demand. In China, shipments of tablets have shrunk considerably, down 30% for the first quarter of 2020 compared to 2019.
As one of the biggest-selling tablets in Q1 2019, Apple's iPad took a hit during the period. According to figures from IDC shared with the South China Morning Post, Apple's sales in the market dropped 42.5% year-on year.
The virus' impact on the market wasn't felt by all brands, however, with Huawei seeing its shipments growing 4.3% during the period. The sales shakeup also means Apple is no longer the biggest-selling tablet producer in China, with it acquiring 35.1% of the market for Q1 2020 against Huawei's improved 40.2%.
Huawei was the exception, as other major producers also saw sales contract. Xiaomi, Microsoft, and Lenovo each saw first-quarter slumps of 5.5%, 3.2%, and 1.7% respectively.
The coronavirus caused tablet shipments to drop sharply, but senior IDC analyst Guo Tianxiang points out "market opportunities arising from the pandemic were also unexpected by the industry," such as online education and remote working. "Online education will become the most important growth driver for the tablet market in the future."
Aside from sales prompted by social distancing measures, the tablet market also benefited from Lunar New Year holiday sales. China's second-largest e-commerce platform JD.com reported a 77% year-on-year increase in tablet sales for the first ten days after the Lunar New Year.
IDC's analysis of tablets is only one view of Apple's fortunes in China. Apple CEO Tim Cook advised in April that the company's demand in China has largely recovered from the virus-related slumps from earlier in the year, with demand improving in March and April following the staggered reopening of stores.
Meanwhile, the iPhone is still riding high in China, with sales in the first quarter down only 1% despite a general smartphone market contraction of 22% year-on-year.
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10 Comments
When it comes to these brands I don't have a lot of faith in their numbers. For example I literally got a Huawei tablet for free with my internet plan, and in the same store it was BOGOF for most of the low and medium range phones, with exception to iPhones.
I have been buying iPads since Steve first introduced them and will continue to buy iPads well into the future. There's just nothing out there that can touch them.
I was reading his report until I saw that IDC produced it. Then I stopped reading. The same IDC that confidently predicted that Apple would lose the smartphone market to Microsoft. The same IDC that said that Apple would lose the tablet market by 2017. Yes, that IDC.
And how can anyone trust numbers coming out of China anyway? And if true, are we surprised that Huawei, a tech company supported by the communist totalitarian government that rules over its citizens with an iron fist, has an advantage over Apple?
As Daniel Eran Dilger has explained time and again, IDC numbers ain’t worth diddly squat. Lkrupp above makes salient points.
The report also states Apple captured 35.1% of the available Q1 market in China, even though China’s Q1 was ravaged by coronavirus
Who is anyone trying to kid? These are great results. To try and spin this as a negative is asinine.