Research firm Strategy Analytics estimates Apple shipped 14.5 million iPad during the all-important holiday quarter. (The fourth quarter of 2018.)
Apple no longer discloses iPad, iPhone, or Mac unit sales in its earnings reports, leaving us with these estimated figures, which can vary quite significantly between research firms. With the iPhone, for example, estimated shipments have ranged from 65.9 million to 68.4 million to 71.7 million for the quarter.
Apple reported sales of 13.2 million iPad in the fourth quarter of 2017, so Strategy Analytics numbers suggest a nearly 10% year-over-year growth in iPad sales, which is a not unreasonable number.
The report estimates the average selling price of the iPads sold was $463, a 4% increase over the $445 selling price one year ago. (Apple raised prices alongside the debut of its 2018 iPad Pro lineup. The cheapest Pro model starts at $799, compared to $649 in 2017.)
Apple’s 14.5 million iPad units easily bested its nearest competitor, as it more than doubled the 7.5 million tablet units sold by Samsung during the quarter. Amazon, Huawei, and Lenovo fill out the rest of the top five with an estimated 5.5 million, 4.6 million, and 2.3 million shipments respectively. However, the Android operating system as a total still grabbed an estimated 60% of the tablet market pie.
