News - Full size Apple iPad sales collapse as iPad mini takes over

[HEXUS]

Not bad for a “tweener”.

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[Biscuit]

I think its quite funny that this one would never have been built if Mr Jobs hadn't passed away and its the more successful form factor. Perhaps its more to do with price than practicality?

[kingpotnoodle]

I think its quite funny that this one would never have been built if Mr Jobs hadn't passed away and its the more successful form factor. Perhaps its more to do with price than practicality?

I reckon people who want an "iPad" just for the brand and having one are now buying the mini because it's cheaper rather than buying the full-fat £400+, it's hard for many people to justify £400 on something so limited, 16GB and only WiFi with no cover, useful bundled apps or anything.

But a lot of people will like the smaller size first and just be happy that it's cheaper, or get a 32GB/64GB/cellular version instead of a 16GB WiFi big'un. £529 for the 64GB cellular is criminal though, for a 8" tablet with last years innards... it's pretty poor value.

[scaryjim]

it seems like the market has shifted and smaller tablets will take over in 2013

Not really - it's only the 8" - 9.7" tablets that have seen a drop. All other tablets - smaller and larger - saw a small increase. Sure, 9.7" tablet shipments plummeted, but so did overall tablet shipments. Most of those lost tablet sales remained lost, and those that moved to other tablet sizes did so fairly evenly across the board.

All we're really reporting on here is the death of the 9.7" tablet. Must suck if you're a company whose halo product is one of those...

[fadeaway]

How is that the ipad mini taking over? Looks like a collapse of over 5 million ipad 9.7" screens and a miniscule increase of maybe a few hundred thousand ipad mini 7.9" screens.

[Barry]

I've had both the ipad2 and ipad mini and the mini is nowhere as good as the full size one, the screen feels cheap an nasty on the mini.

[Gordy]

I've had them all and the mini is by far the best of the bunch. Yes the screen isn't retina, but it's form factor and weight far out weigh that one downside. From my small experience of iPad purchasing for clients. Most are choosing the mini on cost and portability reasons.

As for the NPD's "data", to say it's almost certainly wrong is a bit a of an understatement. They have been massively out in the past on apple sales. I can virtually guarantee they have made up the following:
"We now understand that Apple may be planning to sell 55M iPad minis (7.9”) and 33M iPads (9.7”) in 2013”

I'm sorry that is utter rubbish, Apple have never stated the breakdown of sales for the sub models of any of there range. This includes iPad and iPhone. If they don't announce this to the shareholders they cannot and will not tell NPD.

To give NPD their due at least with the Apple side of the data their figures can be corrected every quarter with real sales numbers. The others like Amazon, have never released real sales figures on their tablets. It's truely impossible to see where all the companies actually fit in. I would love to see the kindle vs surface sales numbers for one.

[Spud1]

I've had both the ipad2 and ipad mini and the mini is nowhere as good as the full size one, the screen feels cheap an nasty on the mini.

I completely disagree, but we are all entitled to our opinion

I really like my iPad mini - for me it is just the right size, weight, etc for an iPad. I can't stand the full size ones - incredibly heavy, big, bulky things which don't fit my usage profile at all.

The whole screen argument is a long running one and again is very much down to personal preference - even put next to an iPad 4 there is no real world difference in screen quality. Yes you can start zooming in and putting your eye up to the screen hunting desperately for pixels in the mini, but at typical viewing distances..you can't really tell the difference aside from a few differences in the colour reproduction.

Price will be a factor too - but the iPad mini is still more expensive than it's competitors and is not really a whole lot more affordable than say an iPad 2, so I don't think it's a huge factor.

Each to their own I guess

[Barry]

The main thing for me is the screen on the mini feels plasticly

[TheAnimus]

Actually guys, I think it might be simpler.

Most people who want an iPad probably own one already. The iPad 4 isn't much of an upgrade over a 3. Many would argue the connector makes it a downgrade.

The mini is a much better form factor for me. But I wouldn't ever choose one, its not worth the premium over a Nexus 7 etc.

However as someone who wants an iPad they can buy the cheaper one, they will.

If Apple bring out the cheaper iPhone it will obviously hurt sales of their flagship. I think the mini has been doing that on a price point too.

[Brewster0101]

This is not good news for Apple as their margin of profit is much higher on the full size ipads. The accountants in Apple are probably cursing Tim right now.

Does throw a cloud over the idea of a cheaper iphone - they won't want to take sales away from the rip off full spec iphones

[Obscurity]

£529 for the 64GB cellular is criminal though, for a 8" tablet with last years innards... it's pretty poor value.

Do Apple make anything that isn't terrible value for money?

(Spoilers: No)

[spraint]

This is not good news for Apple as their margin of profit is much higher on the full size ipads. The accountants in Apple are probably cursing Tim right now.

Does throw a cloud over the idea of a cheaper iphone - they won't want to take sales away from the rip off full spec iphones

Nope. This was discussed during the January earnings call.

Cannibilization is a huge opportunity for us. We never fear it because if we do, someone else will do it. iPhone has cannibalized iPod, that doesn't worry us. iPad has on the Mac, and that doesn't concern us.

Apple doesn't exist in a vacuum and has to keep an eye over its shoulder otherwise the likes of Samsung, Google and Microsoft might see to it that Apple prices itself out of the market. Don't be surprised if Apple drops previous flagship product lines like a hot brick once it perceives that the money won't be rolling in for much longer on them.

[3dcandy]

Nope. This was discussed during the January earnings call.

Apple doesn't exist in a vacuum and has to keep an eye over its shoulder otherwise the likes of Samsung, Google and Microsoft might see to it that Apple prices itself out of the market. Don't be surprised if Apple drops previous flagship product lines like a hot brick once it perceives that the money won't be rolling in for much longer on them.

Hear hear, I expect the iPod classic and several version of Mac to go quickly...

[pp05]

My brother recently purchased 9.7 Ipad (recent iteration) and it is a completely different experience altogether. I had used Asus Transformer and hadn't seen point of a big tablet opting to use the Nexus 7/Playbook depending on what is available but the Ipad is on totally different level.

,

[Gordy]

iOS developer here. Love the mini form factor. Size & weight improvements are big win for just grabbing and using. The screen is 'good enough' for 95% of use and I'm not missing the retina resolution as much as I do when using my 9.7 non retina iPads. The PPI is again 'good enough' most of the time.

When they bring out a retina mini it will be perfect. (Assuming they can produce something special with iOS 7)

The crazy thing about the mini is that now whenever I pick up an iPad it feels so heavy and massive. It's amazing how different it feels.