Why are iPad sales continuing to fall?

Apple celebrated another ridiculously successful quarter last week, but that doesn’t mean everything is going well. Continuing the same trend we’ve seen over the past few months, iPad sales are falling, not quite as fast as the rest of the tablet market, but falling nonetheless. Things have gotten so bad that Mac sales have actually exceeded iPad sales, but why? What’s going on? 

Apple last week posted an absolutely monster quarter, delivering a quarterly net profit of $13.6 billion on the back of $58 billion in revenue. Year over year, iPhone sales increased by 40% while Mac sales increased by a modest 10%. At the other end of the spectrum, iPad sales continued to trend downwards, with year over year sales falling by over 20%. For the quarter gone by, Apple actually generated more money from the Mac sales than it did with the iPad. So what in the world is going on here? Before we jump the gun and label the iPad yesterday’s news, I think there are a few important points to consider. First and foremost, it’s important to remember that iPad is a unique product unto itself, subject to its own use cases, pricing structure, and refresh cycles. Still, much of the analysis surrounding the iPad is done through the prism of the iPhone, a completely different product altogether.