NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
IPad sales are slumping, and Apple's share of the tablet market is in a tailspin.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is hoping to reverse the trend on Tuesday. The company is expected to reveal its first revamped iPad in a year during an event in San Francisco.
But don't expect Apple to produce a radically new device in an effort to turn the tide -- the new iPad will likely be a marginal upgrade from the current version. Apple is expected to unveil a slightly thinner and faster iPad with a fingerprint sensor.
During Apple's fiscal third quarter, which ended in June, iPad sales fell to $6.3 billion -- a 27% drop over last year. But this year, Apple didn't get a boost from a new version of the tablet. The company released a new iPad in March 2012, while the fourth-generation iPad came out in November. Even though last quarter's iPad sales were weak, tablet revenue jumped 40% and 22% in the prior two quarters.
More striking is the fact that Apple no longer dominates in tablets. Apple's global tablet market share currently stands at 32%, down from 60% a year ago, according to IDC.
That's because rivals are taking advantage of Apple's lack of major updates: The tablet market share controlled by Samsung, Acer and Lenovo tripled last quarter from the previous year. That kind of wild changing of the guards is common for markets that are in their infancy -- but it still isn't particularly good news for Apple.
Although the iPhone gets the lion's share of Apple hype, the iPad is still extremely important to the company's overall business.
"The iPad is the company's second-largest revenue stream, so you definitely can't discount it," said Gillis.
