iPad Air Best-Selling Apple Tablet Over Holidays; iPad 2 Fades To 5% Of Sales

A new Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) study has found that the iPad 2, originally released in early 2011, now represents just five percent of 16 GB capacity iPad sales.

My iPad 2, now closing on three years old, has been anvil dependable and a great machine, but frankly I’m surprised that the second generation full-sized iPad is attracting even five percent of buyers. The vastly more powerful and capable iPad Air is only $100 (25 percent) more, and represents a much better value looking forward. It’s questionable whether iOS 8 will support A5 chip devices.

I’m also not surprised that the iPad Air is outselling the iPad mini, since the Air’s trimmed-down form factor has closed the gap on the mini’s only real advantage other than price.

CIRP’s researchers found that the full-size iPad Air and leftover fourth-generation full-size Retina iPads accounted for 59 percent of iPad sales over the recent holiday season, while the the non-Retina A5 powered iPad’s mini was the second best-selling iPad model accounting for 25 percent of sales with the new A7 powered Retina mini taking 16 percent and the iPad 2 bringing up the rear at five percent. I am surprised at the robustness of non-Retina mini sales, presumably purely on price, likewise $100 less than the current model since the mini 2 is a much better value for reasons stated above regarding the iPad 2, with which it shares A5 silicon.

CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. Mike Levin is cited by Mac News Network noting that “Apple managed to shift significant sales to its higher-priced models,” adding that, “for the past year, the legacy iPad 2 grabbed from one-quarter to one-third of iPad sales.

“Along with the trend toward sale of models with larger storage capacities, Apple should see higher iPad average selling prices, with iPad 2 at only 5% of total sales and iPad mini sales split between the original model and the new iPad mini with Retina display.”

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