History may be about to repeat itself in the tablet market. Although Apple’s iPad has long been the gold standard of tablets everywhere, it’s about to come under pressure from a flood of cheaper Android tablets, similar to how the iPhone has come under competitive pressure from Samsung and other Android smartphone manufacturers. CNET points us to a new research note from Citi analyst Glen Yeung, who claims that the iPad is “losing ground fast” as the world’s most popular tablet. Yeung projects that Apple’s iPad shipments will post a 7% year-over-year decline next quarter even though demand for tablets has only accelerated over the past year.
Yeung’s report echoes a new report from Digitimes that claims iPad sales will only total between 10 million to 12 million in the coming quarter, a significant sequential drop from the 14.6 million Apple reported in fiscal Q3. Of course, things are projected to pick up again once Apple releases its next-generation iPad this fall, but Yeung says that Apple’s best-case scenario for Apple’s 2013 iPad sales growth might just be 6%, which is still well below IDC’s industry-wide tablet shipment growth projection of nearly 60% year-over-year.
