Earlier this week, Canalys announced that 34% of smartphones shipped in Q1 2014 had a screen size larger than 5 inches. While a hard screen size cut-off is too restrictive a definition, the data does show that "phablets" are now mainstream. Our challenge now is to gauge the impact of phablets on tablet usage.

Yesterday, Apple posted solid financial results for fiscal Q2, mainly on the back of better than expected iPhone sales in China and Japan. However, a lot of discussion seems to be revolving around the sudden slowdown in iPad sales. I think explaining this decline requires a small addition to my previous analyses on usage based segmentation and the structure of the tablet market.

IDC's tablet market estimates for Q4 showed tablet shipments rising to 76.9 million units, just 7% below PC shipments in the quarter. Android OEMs led the market with more than 47 million shipments, with the iPad at 26 million. Let's take a deeper look at these figures, split by OEM and category.

I had previously explained the concept of tablet market tiers and the pattern of upmarket competition among Android vendors as they continue to fight for reasonable hardware margins. Recent tablet install base data from ABI research seems to support this hypothesis and describes the same pattern we saw in the smartphone market. This also helps explains why Apple needs an iPad Pro.

IDC recently announced their tablet shipment estimates for Q3 2013 that showed a 6% growth over the previous quarter. This growth was entirely driven by large, branded Android tablet vendors as iPad demand declined ahead of the product refresh. This left the Android platform with a 65% share of the overall market. Let's take a deeper look at these figures in context of tablet market tiers.

Earlier this week, Apple announced results for fiscal Q4 that were largely in line with expectations. iPhone shipments came in at 33.8 million (26% YoY growth) and iPad shipments were flat at 14.1 million, with ASPs for both product lines also remaining flat. The iPhone shipment figure was particularly interesting as it was just above the 31-33 million range predicted by Google trends. Since Google trends is primarily a demand forecasting tool, I thought it would be more prudent to compare it to iPhone and iPad sell-through and not shipments.

Lately, there has been much debate in the analyst community about the definitions of "tablet" and "market share" as that reported by research firms. One of the primary arguments is that usage patterns of low-end, white box tablets are very different from those of high-end devices like the iPad. While this is certainly a valid argument, I believe it misses the larger point relating to the competition between products at various market tiers.

Apple's long-awaited iPad refresh is finally a reality. Apple's refreshed full-size iPad, rebranded as the "iPad Air", starts at the usual $499 price. Apple also unveiled an iPad Mini with retina display, with a higher starting price of $399 and retained the original iPad Mini at $299. Finally, the ageing iPad 2 was also retained with the price unchanged at $399. This essentially proves my theory that Apple's pricing strategy has nothing to do with a "price umbrella" and everything to do with margins.

Since the launch of the iPad, certain segments of the analyst community have consistently compared the tablet market to the iPod-dominated music player market. After Android tablets made a major market share push this year, this theory lost a few followers. However, some analysts remain still argue that Apple's pricing strategy with the iPad will be similar to that of the iPod line, using the oft-quoted "price umbrella" train of thought. Let's analyze this argument with the help of pricing and margin data.

IDC released their tablet market estimates last week that showed the overall tablet market decline by about 10% sequentially. As I expected, Android tablets were responsible for about 62% of quarterly shipments, while the iPad's market share dropped to just 32%. Let's take a deeper look at these figures.

Over the last few quarters, Android tablets have overtaken the iPad's quarterly shipments thanks to strong vendor performance across all tiers. However, many analysts consider this meaningless because the iPad supposedly dominates tablet usage, i.e. browsing share as measured by various research firms. Let's take a look at the problems with existing data on the subject and look at another data source that measures more relevant data. Using this data, we can assess the browsing share of Android tablets by region and project future performance.

Apple's Q3 2013 results beat analyst expectations even as it reported flat revenue and a second consecutive quarter with a decline in earnings. iPhone shipments of 31.2 million were far higher than estimates (including mine) and the 14.6 million iPad shipments came in far below estimates. While the results were within Apple's guidance range, the accompanied ASP decline across the board and weakness in all non-US markets (especially emerging markets) are cause for concern.

NPD recently revealed their tablet display shipment estimates for February and March, which show strong gains for the 7" display segment. Interestingly, this surge is not being led by established vendors, but by white-box vendors. This has led to a steep drop in tablet prices & margins, over the past year. Let's take a look at the impact of this dynamic on the Android-iPad platform duopoly.

I had previously identified two broad usage-based segments in the smartphone industry, which helped us understand the trends shaping the market. Let's apply the same usage-based segmentation methodology to the tablet market to understand the current and future trends that could affect OEMs.

IDC has just released their tablet market estimates and their figures are quite a bit off from my original Q1 estimate, but eerily similar to my revised estimate based on NPD's figures. Android tablets seem to have permanently stolen the tablet market crown from the iPad, while Windows tablets have continued to struggle. Let's take a deeper look at the figures.

Apple announced results for its fiscal Q2 2013 on Tuesday. The company posted its first QoQ profit decline in years, amid slowing growth. iPhone shipments totaled 37.4 million and iPad shipments totaled 19.5 million for the quarter. Let's look at sales growth and ASP trends to benchmark our previous estimates regarding iPhone growth and iPad Mini cannibalization.

By now, it is fairly clear that the iPad Mini has been cannibalizing sales of the 9.7" iPad. Even though the iPad Mini has been a success on a standalone basis, it stands to reason that it should be called a success only if it has boosted revenues (and hence, profits) for Apple, after taking cannibalization into account. Let's take a look if that is the case.

My last post on NPD's display shipment estimate seems to have kicked up quite a storm. Some didn't seem to buy the production cuts argument as a rationale for a drop in sales. The goal of this post is to show that the potential collapse in 9.7" iPad sales is not just realistic, it should be expected.

Shipments of Android tablets overtook those of the iPad this holiday quarter. After this surge, I expected all players in the industry to see a major sequential decline in Q1. However, NPD's display shipment data suggests that the full-sized iPad is taking the biggest hit. Let's use this data to revisit our tablet market share projection for Q1.

IDC recently released their tablet market estimates for Q4 2012 and I have to say, the figures were surprising even to me. I have been commenting on the similarities between demand patterns in the smartphone & tablet markets for some time now, stating that Android tablets would overtake the iPad by mid-2013. Quite surprisingly, that already seems to have occurred. Let's take a look at the sustainability of this change of guard.