After declines in 2023, the global tablet market rebounded with in 2024, according to a report released by analyst firm Canalys. Overall tablet shipments increased 5.6%, resulting in 39.9 million units shipped. Apple maintained its market share lead in the tablet category, with 42.3% market share in Q4 of 2024. Samsung held a distant second place with 17.8% market share for the quarter.

Across the entirety of 2024, Apple saw a 5.3% increase in iPad shipments. This makes a lot of sense, since the company did not release any new tablets in 2023. Quite frankly, if iPad sales didn’t increase in 2024, I’d be deeply worried about the product line.

This report also echoes a statement from Apple in their latest quarterly earnings about iPad growth being driven by the lower cost models. The iPad Mini makes sense… I would expect a sales bump in the quarter that any new iPad model is released. The iPad Air is slightly suprising, but good to hear. Last we heard, the iPad Air’s percentage of sales was actualy decreasing. For many iPad users, the Air is as high up the pricing ladder as they need to go. More people buying this model will (hopefully) encourage Apple to not only update it more frequently, but maybe start trickling down more iPad Pro features, which feels like it hasn’t happened in awhile. The iPad Air is wayyyyy overdue for ProMotion, for example.

Some people read this analyst report as more evidence that the M4 iPad Pro has “flopped”. But honestly, I don’t know that the iPad Pro has really ever been the best-selling iPad model, as it’s always been the most expensive. However, if it really isn’t meeting Apple’s expectations, I hope the lesson they take away is that iPad pricing desperately needs a rethink. iPad Pro pricing, especially, has been getting out of hand for years, and the M4 models only made it worse.

Link: Canalys