Apple is projected to report record breaking sales of 20 million iPads during the just-concluded June quarter.
According to Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf, it’s only a matter of time before iPad shipments exceed iPhone sales.
“The iPad is invading the business market at a much faster pace than the iPhone,” he explained in an industry note obtained by AppleInsider.
“In addition, the iPad will launch in China on July 20th. This should provide a significant boost in sales now that Apple is providing Chinese languages and services on its iOS platform.”
If Wolf’s prediction is accurate, the expected sales stats would more than double the 9.25 million iPads Apple offloaded in the same quarter a year ago. It would also set a new record for iPad sales in any quarter, outpacing the 15 million iPads Apple shipped during the holiday shopping season of 2011.
In sharp contrast, PC shipment growth was “flat” during the second quarter of 2012 – totaling approximately 87.5 million units and marking a decline of 0.1 percent from the second quarter of 2011.
“In the second quarter of 2012, the PC market suffered through its seventh consecutive quarter of flat to single-digit growth,” confirmed Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagaw.
“Uncertainties in the economy in various regions, as well as consumer’s low interest in PC purchases, were some of the key influencers of slow PC shipment growth. Despite the high expectations for the thin and light notebook segment, Ultrabooks, shipment volume was small and little impact on overall shipment growth.”
Kitagaw also confirmed suspicions that consumers were less interested in spending money on PCs compared to other technology product and services, such as the latest smartphones and media tablets.
“This is more of a trend in the mature market as PCs are highly saturated in these markets. A big portion of R&D spending has been allocated to Ultrabook development, together with Intel’s massive investments to establish the market segment.
“Though Ultrabook was at first introduced in the market in 2011, the major promotion kicked off toward the end of 2Q12 with the IvyBridge, based Ultrabook release. This segment is still in an early adopter’s stage,” she added.
