iPad Pro with Apple's Smart Keyboard. It's a 'detachable' not simply a tablet. (Credit: Apple)
The iPad Pro has already become a
The headline for market researcher IDC's press release on Thursday was, "Apple Beats Microsoft at Their Own Game." IDC goes on to explain that "Apple's recent foray into this segment has garnered them an impressive lead in the short term." IDC is referring to the detachable segment, where it solidly puts the iPad Pro, along with Microsoft's Surface products. A detachable can separate the keyboard base from the display, or tablet, component.
But the IDC release massages the data a bit. As a plain, old tablet, the iPad is not seeing shipment growth in the first quarter of 2016 (down 18.8 percent year-over-year). The "iPad's future will be largely relegated to replacements -- of older iPads or PCs -- rather rather than net new additions," IDC said. But toss the iPad Pro into the pricey detachables category -- with its Smart Keyboard -- and, voila, it's a Surface killer. The iPad Pros are "healthy additions" to the lineup and enterprise (aka, large corporation)-friendly.
"The growth is coming solely from detachable iPad Pros, rather than their slate lines (Air + Mini)," said Jitesh Ubrani, an IDC analyst, in an email. Which is probably a good thing considering the iPad Pro's greater potential for profit. The ironic part is, Microsoft "arguably created the market for detachable tablets" with the Surface, according to Ubrani.
Apple shipped 10.3 million iPads in the first quarter of 2016, compared to 12.6 million in the same period last year. And its overall tablet market share was still an industry leading 25.9 percent. Though IDC didn't provide quarterly numbers for Microsoft Surface, in February IDC said that Microsoft sold around 1.6 million Surface devices in the fourth quarter of 2015, while Apple sold about 2 million iPad Pros.
