Apple’s iPad is regaining some of the market share it lost in recent years, though it’s largely due to a shrinking market.
According to Strategy Analytics’ Q3 2016 report on global tablet shipments, the tech giant’s growing market share is primarily due to the fact that the market as a whole shrank by 10 percent, with Apple experiencing less of a decline than most. However, generic ‘White Box’ tablets — the inexpensive, Android-based devices you might find at a drug store — still own the largest share of the market.
The report also noted that Apple’s iPad Pro put it on “the path to recovery” by giving the company a foothold in the growing 2-in-1 tablet niche pioneered by Microsoft’s Surface.
“Microsoft has led a transformation in the tablet market with its Surface Pro and Surface Book,” said Peter King, the service director of tablet and touch screen strategies, in a statement.
“Apple is now reliant on iPad Pro for tablet and laptop replacement, while many other PC OEMs abandon Android Slates in favor of more expensive 2-in-1 Windows Tablets for better productivity and versatility.”
The report added that average selling prices went up by seven percent due to many vendors shifting resources from towards 2-in-1s and away from traditional slate tablets.
Overall, the data indicates that while users may be less and less interested in slate tablets, there is room for growth when it comes to the more powerful 2-in-1, which many are now using as laptop replacements.
Related: Apple’s Phil Schiller says new MacBook Pro maxes out at 16GB of RAM to save battery life
[source]Strategy Analytics[/source][via]Engadget[/via]
