What you need to know
- Canalys has released a report on Apple's Q2 iPad shipments.
- It says that Apple shipped more than 14M iPads, up 20% on last year.
- Apple revealed iPad earnings of $6.58 billion in its most recent earnings call.
A new report from Canalys estimates that Apple shipped more than 14.2M iPads in Q2 of 2020, up nearly 20% on last year.
According to the report, the worldwide PC market (of which tablets are considered a part) surged by 26% in Q2 2020, as consumers around the world scrambled to equip themselves for remote working, learning, communication and socializing. As the report notes:
Worldwide tablet shipments hit 37.5 million units in Q2 2020, a remarkable 26% year-on-year increase. Tablets, part of the PC market, had faltered in recent years, but demand in Q2 2020 was boosted by consumers and businesses wanting affordable access to basic computing power and larger screens to facilitate remote work, learning, and leisure.
In figures, Canalys estimates that Apple shipped 14.24M tablets in Q2 2020, netting it a mammoth 38% market share and a 19.8% increase on this time last year. Apple's overall share of the market did drop slightly however, down from 40% in the same quarter of 2019. Canalys says that the top five vendors including Apple all benefited from the surge in demand. Canalys Analyst Ishan Dutt noted:
"Tablets enjoyed a renaissance in Q2 2020 because the devices tick so many boxes for remote work and education use. The ability to collaborate virtually as well as view and interact with digital content has become paramount, especially in the education space. The coronavirus pandemic has increased competition for communal screen access between household members forced to stay indoors. Tablets help overcome this problem by allowing each family member to have their own device. And they are more budget-friendly than desktops and notebooks. For users with greater productivity needs, the proliferation of detachable tablets has been a boon. These devices have gained traction as primary devices for work and it is vital to include them when evaluating the PC market as a whole. Apple and Lenovo's recent success shows that having a tablet offering as a mainstream PC vendor is invaluable."
According to the report, Apple had the second-highest figures when it comes to overall PC shipments including tablets with 19.6M, not far behind frontrunner Lenovo's 20.2M. Canalys estimates that Apple's overall Mac and iPad shipments grew 17.4% year on year.
