iPads (Thanks To The Mini) Were 1 In 6 ‘PCs’ Shipped, Tablets One-Third, And Windows RT Didn't Even Break 1M: Canalys
The PC market is fast shifting into a touchscreen world, and Apple is leading the charge. Some new numbers from the analysts at Canalys note that in Q4 of 2012 …
Context & Ripple Effects
Canalys has treated iPad shipments as PCs since at least 2011, when its iPad-inclusive measure showed Apple’s PC shipments rising sharply. Earlier coverage also framed the iPad as capable of moving Apple toward HP-scale PC volumes in the conventional PC ranking.
Q4 2012 supplies a harder test of that framing: tablets form a material part of the category, Apple holds a substantial share within it, and Windows RT has not established comparable volume.
First-order effects
- Apple’s iPad line, helped by the iPad Mini, accounts for one-sixth of Canalys’s Q4 2012 PC shipments, strengthening Apple’s position under the analyst’s expanded PC definition.
- Windows RT remains below one million shipments in the quarter, leaving its touchscreen-PC proposition far smaller than the tablet volume Canalys counts in the same market.
Second-order effects
- Canalys’s PC league table puts pressure on PC makers to compete for tablet demand as well as notebook and desktop demand, rather than treating tablets as a separate market.
- Apple’s shipment position makes smaller-screen tablets a more consequential part of PC-market comparisons, shifting attention from traditional PC form factors to touchscreen devices.
Third-order effects
- If Canalys’s definition gains wider acceptance, the PC market will be measured less by legacy form factors and more by the computing tasks consumers shift onto tablets.
- The contrast between iPad scale and Windows RT’s early volume indicates that touchscreen hardware alone does not determine success; software ecosystems and product positioning become central to the redefined PC category.
The trend: The PC market is being redefined around tablet-led touchscreen computing, with shipment rankings increasingly determined by whether analysts count those devices as PCs.