Apple has inched one step closer to gaining a solid foothold in the Indian market. This time it’s through the tablet market, as it enters the list of Top 5 Tablet Makers in India.
New data reported by International Data Corporation puts Apple into the top 5 list, thanks to a robust season of sales of the iPad Air 2.
“The iPad Air 2 remained the top-selling product for Apple constituting half its total shipments. On the other hand, the iPad Pro accounted for 22.7 percent of India’s total detachable category in 2016, as per the shipments data.” (source)
This is a better news for Apple than it seems on the outset. That’s because the tablet market has been on the slowdown over the past year.
While the Indian smartphone market has remained largely unaffected by global decline, the Indian tablet market has suffered the same fate as rest of the world.
According to Gadgets360, the “tablet shipments in India declined 3.1-percent year-on-year”. In 2016, the total demand was around 3.7 million units, down from nearly 4 million in the year before that.
“Shipments decline as the consumer demand for tablets continues to shrink. However, commercial shipments grew over 35 percent annually managing to offset declining consumer shipments to a large extent,” observes the IDC report.
While the iPhone has a tough competition from Samsung, Google, Oppo, Xiaomi, etc., the iPad continues to have a distinct advantage over its rivals. Therefore, it might be easier for Apple to make inroads in the tablet market in India.
It may not be the category Apple most hoped to dominate, but we guess Tim Cook will take anything that comes his way.
