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'Peak iPad' may have already come and gone

While Apple doesn't seem to have any problems shifting iPhones pretty much as fast as it can make them, sales data suggests that the peak for iPad sales may have come and gone, and now it's on a steady decline similar to that experienced by the iPod.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Move over peak oil, peak iPad may have already come and gone.

While Apple doesn't seem to have any problems shifting iPhones pretty much as fast as it can make them, sales data suggests that the peak for iPad sales may have come and gone, and now it's on a steady decline similar to that experienced by the iPod.

Last quarter Apple shifted 12.62 million iPads. Here's what that looks like when you plot quarterly iPad sales since the product was first released.

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Notice that hump, with sales now showing a steady decline, even during the busy holiday period? iPod sales did exactly the same thing.

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You don't see that with the iPhone:

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Neither do you see it for the Mac.

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I'm not ready to start carving out a tombstone for the iPad just yet because 12.6 million iPads a quarter represents a volume of product that a lot of hardware makers can only dream of, but sales do seem to be on a downward trajectory. The iPad may have burned bright, but it may not have the longevity that the iPhone and Mac seem to have.

Will Apple be happy to let iPad sales slide now it has a new product in the pipe, or will we see some radical revamping of the iPad soon? Only time will tell.

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