Apple hopes the iPad Pro will reinvigorate slumping tablet sales, but the company’s not showing much faith in the device, if initial orders are to be believed.
According to supply chain sources, Apple is taking a “rather conservative attitude” toward iPad Pro, ordering just 2.5 million for the rest of 2015 — and possibly even less for the first quarter of 2016 if holiday sales prove weaker than expected.
As a comparison, Apple sold 12.3 million iPads in Q4 last year, a dip from the 14.1 million units sold during the same period in 2013.
A previous report suggested that constrained supplies of the iPad Pro could be linked to a panel shortage.
With a growing number of analysts voicing concerns that the iPhone is starting to max out demand, and that growth is slowing down, it would be great news if Apple could turn around its iPad business. It seems the company is playing it cautiously though.
We’ll get an update on iPad sales during today’s quarterly earnings call. Expect lots of pro-iPad Pro sentiment from Tim Cook!
Source: Digitimes
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
10 responses to “Apple not predicting the iPad Pro to be a big holiday seller”
Well, the report comes from Digitimes, so…..
Beyond that, I hope Apple wouldn’t be that stupid to order such a small number. The iPad Pro has been getting a LOT of good press and there seems to be quite a bit of interest – they could easily sell way more than 2.5mil in the last two months of 2015.
In fact, I predict a lot of ticked off people due to demand, plus holiday, plus small supply.
You may be right. There are a lot of people who love to draw and can’t wait to get their hands on this thing. I even considered buying a Surface before they announced the iPad Pro. Well that would look stupid now. :)
I bought a Surface Pro 3 over a year ago and don’t regret it a bit – it’s an excellent machine and has been great for what I use it for (drawing in Sketchbook Pro and taking notes in OneNote).
Having said that, with the Pencil I’m looking forward to an all iOS workflow. Of course the Surface will still be useful, but I predict it will get a lot less use with the iPad Pro.
Keep supplies low, demand goes up
I’d love to see how it feels in my hand. And then see how much my wallet feels afterwards.
I would think at some point consumers with older iPads may consider upgrading but definitely not to buy the iPad Pro. They’ll go with less expensive iPads for sure. I’ve heard that Amazon’s $50 tablets is going to be all the rage this coming holiday. Everyone will be buying six packs to give out as gifts. Buy 5, get one free. Supposedly that’s what makes Jeff Bezos smarter than Apple’s whole management team. At least that’s what investors seem to think. It’s difficult to remember Apple once owned the tablet market and it was stolen away from right under their noses without so much as a fight. Now Apple is only known as the company with the steadily failing tablet business. Almost no consumers want to pay more than $200 for any tablet. Amazon is determined to ruin Apple’s tablet business and there’s little Apple can do about it.
Almost most failing the tablet business??? Seriously? Their sales may not be growing, but Apple is still selling a LOT of iPads every quarter. As long as they’re still making hand over fist, they’re not failing.
Amazon is selling to a completely different market than Apple. People who buy Amazon’s $50 tablet are NOT people that otherwise would be buying an iPad. “Wow, I’m glad I didn’t buy that iPad Mini 4 because this $50 tablet is way better!” – will never be said by anyone.
Amazon isn’t even considering Apple it’s competition – their competition is those cheap android tablets.
If they wanted to rejuvinate iPad sales, it’s really odd that they wouldn’t release an iPad Air 3 alongside the iPad Pro. Very few average consumers need / want an $800+ tablet, whereas a $450 tablet might be more paletable.
I realize that I’m a specific market (i like to draw, have a older iPad, graphic artist). but this is the most excited I’ve been for an Apple product in years.
Also the title is very misleading. It should be “Sources Predicting Apple isn’t Predicting the iPad Pro to be a big seller” (or something). We don’t know what Apple itself is or is not predicting – the people making the parts are predicting sales based on component orders. These manufacturers assume they are the only ones supplying said parts. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is part of a vetting process and these suppliers that talk won’t be getting the larger contract for a future iPad.