Apple was set to unveil thinner and more powerful iPads on Thursday hoping to reanimate sales in a saturated market.
Thanks to a leak, we knew ahead of the official announcement many details of the new tablets, which include the fingerprint sensors already found on iPhones.
Size-wise there is nothing new. Reportedly larger Apple devices are coming but not before next year.
Technology analyst Roger Kay told euronews: “I think Apple will do in tablets what has done recently in phones, which is to cover a wider gamut of sizes than it has until now, perhaps adding a larger one to the 8” and 10” it already had. Others have tried tablets as large as 13”, but have not been particularly successful. A larger format would give Apple a showcase for its latest retina displays.”
The problem for Apple and its competitors is finding buyers.
For example, more than half of households in the United States already have one or more tablets, and people are waiting longer to replace them.
Apple is still number one with 26.9 percent of the market between April and June 2014, but sales slipped 9.3 percent from the same period last year, though some of that may have been people waiting for the new models.
Roger Kay added: “The tablet market seems to have matured rather quickly, and I don’t think Apple can restart it all by itself. However, the company is a technology and design leader, and a demonstration of prowess in these areas would help it retake some of the market share lost to Android tablet suppliers.”
Future sales growth for tablets is by no means certain for Apple, nor for its main rival Samsung – which had 17.2 percent market share in the second quarter – and the likes of Lenovo with 4.9 percent and ASUS with 4.6 percent.
Technology experts say they face stiff competition from ever-larger smartphones and the latest lightweight laptops.
