While iPad sales have seen persistent quarter-on-quarter declines since the start of 2014, recent data has led to speculation that the iPad might have returned to revenue growth in the last quarter.
In the third quarter of the 2015 fiscal year, Apple sold 10.9 million iPads. No new iPad models were launched that quarter; the just-gone third quarter of the 2016 fiscal year, on the other hand, saw the release of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which could have helped drive a revenue increase…
According to the mobile marketing firm Fiksu, this iPad accounted for 1.1% of all iPad usage by that quarter’s end. Writing for The Motley Fool, analyst Adam Levine-Weinberg says that, on the assumption of 200 million to 250 million actively-used iPads, at least 3 million 9.7-inch iPad Pros were probably shipped.
The quarter also saw the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and 7.9-inch iPad Mini 4 sell “at a slow but steady rate”, while iPad Air 2 usage “rose significantly”, Levine-Weinberg reports. Overall, the data suggests that 10 million to 11 million iPads were likely sold in the quarter, close to the year-ago sales total.
The analyst observes that, even if sales actually declined, iPad revenue perhaps increased – as, while the iPad Pro’s base price is $599, an iPad’s average selling price was just $415 during 2015’s third fiscal quarter. In the last quarter, this ASP “was probably closer to $500”, Levine-Weinberg notes.