iPad shipments slowed in the second quarter of this year, the first time that’s happened in over two years. The source of the problem is easy to pinpoint: the extra-long wait for a new version of the budget iPad.
And unfortunately for consumers, Apple supposedly won’t release a replacement for the iPad (A16) for many more months.
The M4 iPad Air that launched in March contributed strongly to robust growth in Apple’s tablet shipments.
As a result, the iPad’s share of the global tablet market increased. Approximately 2.5 times as many Apple tablets sold last quarter as the iPad’s biggest rival.
iPad shipments worldwide shot up a whopping 16.5% in the last quarter of 2025, according to a market analysis firm. Apple set a new record — it shipped more tablets in Q4 than in any previous quarter.
Not only does iPad outsell every other competitor, but Apple’s tablet also beat its top four rivals’ combined shipments last quarter.
iPad shipments shot up 14% year over year during the first three months of 2025, according to a market analysis firm. That marks the fourth quarter in a row with an increase in iPad demand.
Replacing tablets bought years ago during the pandemic is only one of the reasons for the continuing strong growth.
Trying to decide which Apple tablet is right for you? Knowing which is the most popular might help. And there’s no doubt which one earns the top spot: iPad Pro.
You can probably guess the second most purchased iPadOS model.
iPad shipments grew only slightly last quarter, according to a market research firm, despite the release of new high-end and mid-range tablets in the spring. The lack of a new entry-level tablet from Apple significantly affected the shipment total.
Still, Apple itself showed a larger year-over-year bump in revenue during the third quarter of 2024 from this class of computer.
The number of iPads shipped during Q2 2024 grew sharply when compared to the same quarter of last year, according to market analysts. It’s the first year-over-year increase in Apple’s tablet shipments since 2022.
The long-awaited launch of powerful new iPad models is credited for the improvement.
iPad shipments declined 8.5% year-over-year in the first quarter of the 2024, according to a market research firm. The drop can be partially chalked up to the complete lack of new models for the last 18 months.
But it demonstrates Apple’s dominance of the global tablet market that it’s still on top despite a hefty decline during winter quarter.
Although people are still buying millions of iPads, the numbers are down compared to where they were during the pandemic.
Still, Apple is doing a much better job of selling tablets than any of its rivals. During the second quarter of this year, it shipped about twice as many as any other company, according to a pair of market research firms.
iPad shipments dropped by double digits in the first quarter of 2023, according to two different market-analysts firms. But Apple’s tablet was hardly alone — the entire global market dropped nearly 20%. As a result, iPad held on to its huge lead over its rivals.
The analysts blamed the decline in global shipments on inflation as well as a post-pandemic reduction in demand for tablets.
Apple made almost half the tablets sold in the word during the December quarter, according to market researchers.
The company itself says it took in more revenue from iPad sales in the October-through-December period than in any previous quarter.
iPad shipments declined during the September quarter, but Apple blames the drop on launching the latest models in October, a month later than usual.
This is only the latest problem to bedevil iPad in 2022.
Apple pulled in record revenue during the July-through-September quarter: $90.1 billion, an increase of 8% over the same period of last year. That’s $1.29 in earnings per share, a 4% annual bump. Most of Apple’s signature products experienced revenue growth.
“Our record September quarter results continue to demonstrate our ability to execute effectively in spite of a challenging and volatile macroeconomic backdrop,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.
iPad shipments declined modestly in the Q2 2022, but not because people don’t want Apple tablets. iPad is still suffering from component shortages that slow production.
This was the second quarter in a row that Apple couldn’t make enough iPadOS units to meet demand.
Apple shipped more computers in the first three months of 2022 than any of its rivals, according to a market research firm. Increasing Mac sales helped Apple take the top spot away from Lenovo in the global market for laptops, desktops and tablets.
Apple could have done even better but supply constraints cut into the number of iPads it was able to ship.
Apple shipped 4.6% fewer tablets in the first three months of 2022 than it did during the same period of 2021, according to a market research firm. The iPad-maker blames the shortfall on the global chip shortage preventing it from making enough devices to meet demand.
This is the second quarter in a row that iPad shipments have been hurt by component shortages.
The first three months of 2022 were good to Apple, with revenue setting a quarterly record. But the company warned on Thursday that problems getting components and assembling products will take a nasty chunk out of revenue for the current quarter. The hit will to be between $4 billion and $8 billion.
But there’s also plenty of good news in from the conference call CEO Tim Cook had with investors after Apple’s March quarter results were announced.
The lone dark spot in Apple’s otherwise bright Q4 earnings report was iPad. And analysts are out with their estimates of how bad the damage was, with Apple’s quarterly tablet shipments possibly dropping as much as 21% year over year.
The only good news for Apple is that the drop off wasn‘t because of low demand. It couldn’t get the necessary parts to make sufficient devices to meet demand.
Apple sold a crazy number of iPhones and Macs during the December quarter. And the result is what CEO Tim Cook called the company’s “biggest quarter ever.”
Take a deeper dive into the details to see how Apple was so very successful.
iPad shipments boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic but there were predictions of steep declines as people returned to offices and classrooms. If that’s going to happen, it didn’t start in the third quarter of 2021 as iPad shipments actually rose year over year.
Shipments of Android tablets did drop during the July-to-September period, however.
iPad sales kicked onto high gear in 2020 and haven’t slowed down since. In the April-through-June quarter of 2021,
Apple shipped around 15 million tablets, roughly 50% higher than shipments in the same period two years ago.
Apple just revealed that its made heaps of money last quarter. It broke all kinds of revenue records, and Mac, iPhone and iPad contributed strongly to the total.
But there are also some dark clouds in Apple future. Read on to get the good news and bad from the company’s most recent financial earnings results.
iPad shipments increased a whopping 75% during the first quarter of the year over same period of 2020, according a market analysis firm. It’s the result of people needing computers to work and learn from home as the pandemic drags on.
Other tablet makers saw strong Q1 2021 growth as well, but iPad continues to dominate the market.
The first three months of 2021 brought a flood of revenue for Apple, up 54% from last year. And profits, too. The company had a successful quarter all around, with double-digit growth in iPhone, Mac, iPad, wearables and services revenue.
A shining star in the results was iPhone revenue, which increased by a whopping 65%. But other product categories increased by even higher percentages.
iPad shipments shot up 40% during the last quarter of 2020, according to a market research firm. And the whole tablet market increased dramatically.
This growth helped Apple hold onto its place as the world’s second largest computer maker.
