Tablet market expected to slump in growth year over year to 7.2% from 52.5% with Apple iPad Shipments experiencing first full year decline.
Tablets market isn’t as rosy as it had been painted some months back. It was expected that tablets would continue to grow as markets open up to the idea of them as a main among daily drivers. But forecast by IDC for year over year growth says otherwise. The IDC tracker says that it’s in fact projected to experience a deceleration, a massive one in 2014 with growth hitting a low of 7.2% from a very enthusiastic 52.5% in 2013.
Apple will have had a full year decline in shipments of tablets, a fete which has been attributed to longer device life cycles. This makes the tablets performance more like PCs than smartphones, the latter which has been more stable with a lot of room for growth. Tablets are seeing users holding onto them for more than 3 years compared to smartphones who’s replacement cycle is shorter at 2-3 years. Tablet owners are in some cases going to 4 years with devices. Longer product use in tablets can be linked with the legacy support for older products especially within iOS and increased computing in smartphones.
Worldwide Tablet/2-in-1 Shipments, Market Share, Year-Over-Year Growth, and 5-Year CAGR by Operating System, 2014-2018 (shipment volumes in millions)
| Operating
System |
2014* Shipment Volumes |
2014* Market Share |
2014* YoY Growth |
2018* Shipment Volumes |
2018* Market Share |
2018* YoY Growth |
2014-2018 CAGR |
| Android |
159.5 |
67.7% |
16.0% |
183.1 |
64.0% |
2.2% |
5.9% |
| iOS |
64.9 |
27.5% |
-12.7% |
70.1 |
24.5% |
2.2% |
-1.1% |
| Windows |
10.9 |
4.6% |
67.3% |
32.6 |
11.4% |
17.9% |
38.1% |
| Other |
0.5 |
0.2% |
-70.6% |
0.1 |
0.0% |
-11.3% |
-43.0% |
| Total |
235.7 |
100.0% |
7.2% |
285.9 |
100.0% |
3.8% |
5.4% |
Other factors being associated with the market slump include developments of 2-in-1 form factors among PCs which sit pretty in the middle of tablets and PCs. Generally, computing devices have become thinner and prices have come down with more and more models being available. This does not mean that 2-in-1 devices are expected to hit the roof, they are expected to have just a 4% growth hitting 8.7 million units in 2014, or a mere 4% of the total tablet plus 2-in-1 market.
Worldwide Tablet/2-in-1 Shipments, Market Share, and 5-Year CAGR by Region, 2014-2018 (shipment volume in millions)
| Region |
2014* Shipment Volumes |
2014* Market Share |
2014* YoY Growth |
2018* Shipment Volumes |
2018* Market Share |
2018* YoY Growth |
2014-2018 CAGR |
| Emerging Markets |
119.3 |
50.6% |
11.5% |
149.4 |
52.2% |
4.5% |
6.9% |
| Mature Markets |
116.4 |
49.4% |
3.1% |
136.6 |
47.8% |
3.0% |
3.9% |
| Total |
235.7 |
100.0% |
7.2% |
285.9 |
100.0% |
3.8% |
5.4% |
Windows 8 as an OS has played a significant role in the growth for 2-in-1s which most of them are on and the outcome of Windows 10 could play a huge part in the outcome of market acceptance of the devices. Google’s changes in OS, both Android and Chrome OS could impact changes in the future for choice of device among consumers while also decisions made by Apple in the near future in device line-up. Tablet manufacturers are trying to fend off the pressure of massive entry level products by focusing more on larger screens and more cellular-enabled tablets.
