PR…
iPad’s again showed weakness in growth for the 4th straight quarter with a 22% year-over-year decline.
My personal take on the slowing growth of iPad’s is due to that particular product’s upgrade cycle. I don’t see it as the sort of product that people will generally upgrade every 1 or 2 years. It’s not like a smartphone for example where that cycle is quicker.
My iPad mini is still the first generation model (October 2012) which besides the lack of a Retina Display, doesn’t feel dated. I also wrote previously that the iPhone 6 Plus will more than suffice as being able to replace that mini (as I have no near term plans for any iPad unless there is a huge leap in performance and capabilities).
Prior to the lack of a large form factor iPhone, the mini served as an important bridge. Now though (sandwiched between the 6 Plus and iPad Air), more people may be opting for the larger iPhone.
The iPad’s market may therefore need to be evaluated differently in terms of its growth rate as well as the rate that Apple pushes out product refreshes. When the iPad was new, that rapid pace made sense. Now though, that pace may not be sustainable (so Apple may need to adjust those transitions and space them out a bit more).
And this is probably why Cook reiterated that he views the iPad over the longer term as opposed to quarterly or year-over-year growth rates. Apple is still selling 20+ million of these each quarter (nothing to sneeze at) with this past quarter, 21.4 million units equating to $9 billion in revenue.
