Apple iPad sales buck the trend, which Android tablet manufacturer can fight back?

[Gearbest]In the past few years, due to the impact of the epidemic on society, tablet computer manufacturers have ushered in a wave of rare development opportunities. But now, not only is this development a thing of the past, but it is making the market pay for the potential for overdrafts. Recently, market research organization Canalys announced the latest tablet market data for the second quarter of 2023. The survey results show that, just like the first quarter, global tablet sales will continue to fall sharply in the second quarter of 2023. Currently, there are only 33 million units in a single quarter. The good news is that the decline has narrowed from 13% in the first quarter. to 11%.

The market is sluggish, and manufacturers are also having a hard time. Currently, four of the five largest tablet computer manufacturers have experienced year-on-year declines, and the annual growth rate of some manufacturers has even approached -40%. It is not an exaggeration to say that they have been cut in half. However, what is striking is that this time Apple has become the “most beautiful rebel”. Not only does it rank first in share and sales, it is also the only company that still achieves year-on-year growth. So the current status of the tablet market is that Apple's iPad continues to grow, while Android's decline is getting worse. At the same time, the gap between the two camps is also further widening, and it seems that the Android tablet side will never turn over.

Is the iPad really that stable?

The iPad has dominated the tablet market for a long time. Even in China, the iPad has become synonymous with tablets in a sense. The chairman surnamed Lei of a Fortune 500 company in China would always call his product “iPad” at the press conference of his tablet. But now, although Apple's iPad sales are growing against the trend, they are not unaffected by the market downturn.

In the second quarter of 2023, Apple did not actually launch any new iPad. If we look back, Apple's last new tablet release seems to be the iPad 2022 at the end of 2022. However, the reputation of iPad 2022 is not very good. The non-fully laminated screen that “adheres to the ancestral teachings”, the significantly increased price, and the incredible compatibility with the first-generation Apple Pencil seem to be hard for even Apple fans to tolerate, let alone passers-by. Newer products have not received a good response, but Apple's older products with extremely long life cycles have performed well. According to CNMO’s observations, the price of iPad 2021 has dropped below 2,000 yuan in May this year.

The reputation of new products is not good, and old products are sold at reduced prices. This situation naturally has a big impact on Apple. Not long ago, Apple announced its third fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2023 (Apple’s third fiscal quarter basically coincides with the second quarter). The financial report showed that Apple’s quarterly revenue fell by 1% year-on-year, with iPad revenue of US$5.79 billion, less than the expected US$6.4 billion, let alone US$7.2 billion in the same period in 2022. Taken together, although iPad sales are rising, revenue is declining. Moreover, Apple is still facing competition from Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei and other manufacturers at home and abroad, and life does not seem to be easy.

Overseas manufacturers

Currently, the largest overseas tablet manufacturer is Samsung. In fact, Samsung is also the largest mobile phone manufacturer, and its annual mobile phone sales exceed Apple and Huami OV. Judging from the latest survey data, Samsung’s tablet sales are still less than half of Apple’s iPad, and the gap in strength between the two is quite large.

Not long ago, Samsung just released the new Tab S9 series. Among them, the starting price of the Samsung Tab S9 standard model is 5,999 yuan, and the starting price of the Tab S9 Ultra is 10,199 yuan. This price is actually not very surprising, because Samsung’s Tab S series tablets have always had relatively powerful configurations. Take the Samsung Tab S9 Ultra this time as an example. We can find the second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, 11200mAh capacity battery, 16GB running memory, and 1TB storage space on this tablet, which can be called the “King of Androids.”

However, even if it is such an “Android king”, we can still find many traces of Apple on it, such as the horizontal bangs of the Tab S9 Ultra. Samsung has actually adopted a similar design on previous tablets. This time the Tab S series just continues this design. However, I believe that many consumers actually don’t like this design. It destroys the overall quality of the tablet. The coordination is very eye-catching when the screen is lit. From a product and market perspective, Samsung should be Apple’s strongest competitor. But to surpass Apple, Samsung may need to try its best to get rid of Apple's influence.

Domestic manufacturers

Judging from the research data, Lenovo and Huawei should be the two strongest tablet manufacturers in China. Among them, Lenovo's shipments are currently higher than Huawei's, but Huawei's decline is smaller than Lenovo's.

Let’s take a look at Lenovo first. After sorting out Lenovo’s recent new products, we can find that Lenovo’s current new product positioning is very interesting. All Android tablet sizes are above 10 inches, has 8 inches become a blue ocean? I launched the Y700 and updated the product for two consecutive generations to cater to small-size gaming tablet users. Ultra-large screen tablets are very expensive, so I launched the Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.7, which uses the Snapdragon 870 and brings the price to 1,500 yuan. , perfectly avoiding competitors.

Nowadays, it is difficult for many Lenovo tablets to find competing products at similar price points, which may be one of the reasons why they have been selling well. Lenovo's product strategy is actually very friendly to consumers. After all, it provides them with richer and more user-friendly choices. But now Lenovo seems to be under pressure in terms of sales, and they may need more advantages of their own.

Despite the sanctions, Huawei tablets seem to be performing better than Huawei phones in the market. However, Huawei products using Snapdragon always make people feel that they are missing a little bit of “soul”. Fortunately, in the second half of 2023, the situation may change. Now there is news that with the launch of the Mate60 series, some blockbuster high-tech products that Huawei users have been waiting for will return, which may also affect the product design of Huawei tablets. Judging from the current development and improvement speed of Hongmeng OS, Huawei may be the most likely manufacturer to catch up with Apple on tablets, but the time span may be very long.

write at the end

According to data from Canalys analysts, strong seasonal demand in the second half of 2023 will boost the entire tablet market, but the development of AI PCs may impact the productivity status of tablets. Like PCs, today's AI technology is also one of the important directions for the development of tablets. Manufacturers that seize the opportunity may affect the future market structure.

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