iPad Air update, news: The company’s lightweight 9.7-inch tablet that has a 64-bit processor is more popular than the iPad Mini during the December shopping season, CNET reports.

According to a recent study by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the iPad Air notched 41 percent of all iPad sales in the U.S. in the quarter that ended December. The figure is slightly down from 43 percent share the iPad with Retina scored in December of last 2012.

CNET notes that despite the slight decline, the iPad Air outpaced the iPad Mini’s 25 percent share and the iPad Mini with Retina’s 16 percent share. But the iPad Mini’s and iPad Mini with Retina’s figures combined matches the iPad Air’s US market share.

The iPad 2, though it’s an older model, still was able to have 5 percent of all Apple iPad sales. It had 27 percent share in December 2012.

The data provided by CIRP came from a survey of 500 Apple customers. The Cupertino tech giant did not provide number of unit sales in its report.

The news signals a strong start for the iPad Air. There have been earlier news suggesting that the iPad Air is selling at a faster rate than the iPad Mini with Retina, and the CIRP study seems to confirm the trend.

There’s no news or forecasts on how many iPad Air units have been sold. In a report by Fortune, analysts have estimated that Apple may have sold 55 million iPhones for the fourth quarter of 2013.
The actual number is expected to come from Apple when the company reports its fiscal Q1 2014 earnings after markets close on Monday, Jan. 27.