Apple released the iPad on April 3, 2010.
2. The market for tablets is shrinking and getting canabalized
The iPad sales were growing nicely until 2013. The combination of falling marketshare and the slowdown in the total market for tablets has created a decline in iPad sales.
3. Apple laptops have grown significantly despite a global slowdown in unit sales
Apple Macbooks are showing impressive growth. Despite a global slowdown in laptop unit sales, Apple is growing their unit sales by taking significant market share from competitors. What makes this growth even more impressive is that Apple is going up against competitors with offerings priced far less than Apple’s price point.
4. Will iPhone Follow the MacBook or iPad trend?
Since 2010, iPhone’s global marketshare has stayed fairly consistent. The iPhone has done well in the face of major low cost Android competition. Combine that consistent global marketshare with huge global smartphone growth, and you can see how Apple has been able to achieve exponential unit sales growth.
The problem for Apple, and more so Samsung, is the global slowdown in smartphone growth. The law of big numbers is finally catching up. This means that in order to maintain year-over-year growth, Apple will have to maintain, if not grow, their marketshare.
The iPhone is not going to suffer the iPad fate. The iPad is a tweener. Not powerful enough to replace a laptop, and not mobile enough to replace an iPhone. A cheap Android tablet or an old iPad is sufficient for most people’s lightweight tablet requirements. For their mission critical use, people are willing to pay the Apple premium.
Apple’s challenge will be to grow their marketshare in richer countries like the US, Japan, Europe and China in the short term. In developing countries where the cost of the iPhone is too high, Android will dominate for now.
As Jean-Louis suggests, the iPhone may have room to grow as developing nations like India grow their middle-class, and their users gravitate to the aspirational Apple brand. The question is that if iPhone sales go sideways or slightly down, will Wall Steet be patient?
