 The IDC has forecast that worldwide tablet shipments will reach 211.3 million units this year, down 8.1 per cent from 2014, with the forecast following three consecutive quarters of declining worldwide tablet shipments.
The IDC, however, expects that detachable tablets will continue to represent a growing portion of total shipments. Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC research director, tablets, noted that the market is undergoing a real transition, with end users shifting “their demand towards detachables and more broadly towards a productivity-based value proposition”. “The proliferation of detachable offerings from hardware vendors continues to help drive this switch,” Bouchard commented. “We’re starting to see the impact of competition within this space as the major platform vendors – Apple, Google and Microsoft – now have physical product offerings. “With attractive price points, including the introduction of sub-$100 detachables, and platform innovation being driven by competition, IDC is confident that the detachables segment will nearly double in size in the next year, recording more than 75 per cent growth compared to 2015.” Jitesh Ubrani, IDC senior research analyst, worldwide mobile device trackers, noted that the market transition is in turn ushering in two other key trends: “the growth of Windows and a turnaround for Apple’s iPad device line”. “Though early reviews for the iPad Pro have been mixed, we believe the Pro to be the only reason for Apple to gain tablet market share in the coming years as they target select enterprise and prosumer audiences,” Ubrani commented. “At the same time, we expect Windows-based devices – slates and detachables combined – to more than double its market share by 2019, driven by a combination of traditional PC OEMs as well as more household smartphone vendors.” |
