After proving a big sales hit during the holiday quarter, the iPad Pro continued to sell in more units than Microsoft’s rival Surface Pro line in 2016’s first quarter, according to a report from research firm IDC.
IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, which keeps account of global tablet sales, has recorded the rising proportion of shipping tablets falling into the enterprise-friendly “detachables” category. Senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani has referred to Apple’s “impressive lead” in this area with the iPad Pro.
Though IDC stopped short of revealing precise sales figures for either the iPad Pro or Surface line in the just-gone quarter, the firm had previously reported its belief that, in 2015’s concluding quarter, sales were, for the former, just over 2 million and, for the latter, about 1.6 million.
Apple should continue to fare well in the detachable tablet space. IDC calls the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro and 256GB storage options “healthy additions to the iPad lineup”, adding: “The recent price drop on the iPad Air 2 should help sway those who were previously undecided to upgrade their older iPad 2s.”
Apple’s recent attempts to court the corporate market have also notably included promoting Microsoft’s Office 365 productivity suite as an optional accessory for the entire iPad range.