The title pretty much sums it up folks. I’m curious to know your thoughts, and please explain your personal experiences, thoughts, and opinions of with tablets and iPads.
Are Tablets (iPads) Dead?
I think that tablets other than iPads are dead. I base this on the fact that I don’t like apple products in general, but the only tablet I am interested in is an iPad. They are far too expensive though.
I wouldn’t say they are dead but sales are certainly declining. Yearly hardware refreshes are not at the top of the list for most end users and until they add the next ‘wow factor / must have in thing’ to their iPads sales with no doubt continue to decline.
Plus there is the cost factor and the multiple revisions they are offering…
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I think finally their bubble has burst and people are finally realizing that they are ok for consuming information, but not creating or doing anything productive on.
I for one am glad to see the back of them. They are a complete mess to deal with on corporate and education networks. fine to have laying around the livingroom/kitchen at home for a reference point. But that’s about it I think.
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Yep they are a complete mare in corporate and education (and that is from first hand experience in both)…fine for Joe public at home for net/facebook/twitter/games and of coarse iPlayer 
Still have to smile when Tim Cook said they can replace a PC (especially Pro models)…yet in this photo you can still see a Mac on his desk 
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Lol very true! I love when pictures catch people out like that.
Although they cost a lot more, I’ve finally convinced a lot of people at my work that instead of buying an ipad and a reasonably thin and light laptop for each manager, we are now buying surface pros.
Oh the joy of having a windows “tablet” ! 
Users love them, IT loves them because we don’t need to bodge them into talking to the network shares and printers. Bliss has been restored 
Your lucky, we mention Surface Pro’s at my place and it normally goes along these lines (because of cost and Apple’s ‘cool’ factor);
Dept Manager: We want iPads
Tech: What are you using them for?
Dept Manager: Oh, network documents, Office and some web browsing
Tech: Well network documents are kinda a no go, Office the same and web browsing is fine as long as your not using a Flash website
Dept Manager: Oh
Tech: How about a Surface Pro (or similar tablet)
Dept Manager: But are they an iPad?
Tech: No they are better, a PC with touch capabilites
Dept Manager: Sounds kinda cool, how much?
Tech: About £1000
Dept Manager: We’ll go with iPads
iPads and tablets have their place. Admittedly, since the large iPhones have come out, i’ve not used my iPad as much because a large iPhone “will do” and is on my person all the time, but for when you don’t absolutely need a PC, an iPad is good enough and indeed, the iPad is the reason I’ve not turned on my mac or home PC on for more than a handfull of times over the last couple of years… but an iPad isn’t a PC replacement… it’s more of a much larger iPhone in use… something to stream media while you are sat at home or doing the dishes.
To be fair, it did take me a year to convince my boss about them (he really like Apple). During that year I managed to get free trials of Dell “equivalents”. They were absolutely rubbish, but served the point to him about how good an alternative they could be. So he bought two Surface Pro 3’s on the cheap when they were going end of life for us to test with. One was quickly snapped up by the Head of IT as when he borrowed it from me for a meeting, he loved it.
Thanks to various key members of management willing to be guinea pigs for us implementing them, word has spread and people are now willing giving up their ipads and laptops when the laptops are due to be replaced. It is working out rather nicely. The ipads, if they are still working as getting re purposed for various events we hold.
Warranty support is the only thing that is “wrong” with surface pro’s now to be honest, Dell and HP both give us next working day on site support for end user hardware. The surfaces we need to send away 
Not dead but not quite as lively as when they first came out.
The pace of change of tablets is necessarily lower than phones so the underlying argument for a new tablet is weaker than a new phone. I’d expect to see a person with on average a newer phone than their tablet. Eventually your tablet no longer meets your needs and you decide what to do next. So that would explain a burst of interest then dropping.
I have one family member with an iPAD coming upto 2 years old, I asked and says meets their needs still.
I make daily use of tablets, I use a Google Pixel C, it is excellent, it does everything and its in that zone of just big enough to use for long periods and yet significantly smaller than a laptop. I use a Google Nexus 7 still, a 3 year old device, as its just-right for more compact situations like sitting in an aircraft seat and that small tray with room needed for a drink/food, if a clumsy passenger/steward (which has happened to me!) drops liquid, that $99 old device can die and I can live without it.
Tablets are squeezed between phones from below and laptops from above. Phones have gotten larger, it seems if you check polls and forums and comments, the larger phones seem more popular. Not in my case, as of yesterday I am back down to a 5" phone.
So the smaller tablets which had some distance in size from a phone when a phone was say 4.4"-4.7" a 7" tablet was significantly larger, but much less now when a phone is often 5.5" or larger.
In my opinion, they were never “alive.”
I’ve never seen a productive use for a tablet. Even with my keyboard I have for my iPad Mini, I can still type faster on my laptop. THE ONLY thing I use my iPad Mini for is typing on road trips or on the go, and that’s just because of its thin form factor. And because my laptop is a 15.6" TANK. I love it, it’s nice and powerful, but it’s just too bulky for travel. That being said, if I had money to buy another laptop, I’d much rather use a scaled down laptop on the road (such as a Chromebook or MacBook (not the Pro, the thin one)) to type. I just use the iPad Mini because my friend gifted it to me.
All that to say: I’ve never really loved iPads, and I just use mine on road trips because it was free.
Yes, tablets are dying.
Tablets != iPads.
Have you used a Google Pixel C?
@CraigW @ndalby @Arwen @happyshopper
Wow thank you all for replying. Very interesting to read. I agree with most of you. In fact, Apple isn’t even upgrading their iPads yearly anymore… more like 1.5 years. The next iPads are not expected for another 3-5 months. Also, if you guys are every considering an iPad, I would never recommend buying it straight from Apple. Either buy it from a retailer with a deal, or Apple’s REFURBISHED store. For example, currently the 9.7 inch iPad Pro is being discounted on their by almost $100!. Also, would you be willing to share with me your experience of the Surface Pro’s software vs. the iPad’s software? Thank you all!
No I haven’t, I’ve heard mixed reviews about it. Waiting for a new Google Pixel Tablet. HBU?
Good point! Which iPad mini was it that you owned?
The biggest weakness with the Pixel C is its Wifi is bad, I think some due to the metal design, some other design issues. I like pretty much everything else about it. It is partially supported by Anker in that say the Powerport5 USB-C means you can charge it plus your other devices.
Tablets have larger batteries so need more beefy input, USB-C 3A is better than the 2A of earlier. Power Delivery helps but I don’t have devices needing it just yet.
Having the hinge mid-way up the keyboard means you got a device which fits better in cramped situations opened.
I’m about to use it right now for a Webex work meeting!
I’ve also heard that is has major software limitations because it’s running android and android has very few apps optimized for tablets. Perhaps that is why the Google Pixel phones have a glass back for better connectivity, learning from their prior mistakes!
Yes it is a problem but it is SMALL, I have a car app and certain use of Facebook (like the Anker fans) seem to go into portrait mode but in the most part everything works well.
My biggest beef is the price, and Wifi performance.
1st generation.
Tablets have been rehashed down to the point where they are extremely affordable. That doesn’t always mean they are useful. I’ve bought a lot of tablets on impulse and regretted it shortly after. Either too big, too small, or inability to use a mouse and keyboard, and even then, it’s like, why didn’t I just get a LAPTOP?! 
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