It looks like people’s love for tablets is slowly dying. According to a new data released on Monday by researcher IDC market, Worldwide Tablet Shipments Declined More Than 12% in the Second Quarter.
The shipment has been dropping significantly since the sector posted its first ever shipment decline in the fourth quarter of 2014. This drop continues to decline as vendors begin to refocus their product lines and consumers hold off on purchases.
“The market has spoken as consumers and enterprises seek more productive form factors and operating systems – it’s the reason we’re seeing continued growth in detachables,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers.
A huge number of tablets shipped this past quarter were also Android-based systems at 65% followed by iOS, which captured 26%, and Windows for the remaining share. Though this trend has been constant for years there are early signs of change as the Android vendor list has contracted and champions of the OS have begun to offer Windows-based products, hedging against the decline of Android slates.
“At present, it’s difficult for Android to compete with iOS or Windows detachable products. However, the next 12 to 18 months will be very interesting as Google launches the next version of Android with better multi-tasking support and as they begin to bring together their two operating systems.” Jitesh added.
Despite Android tablets being the most shipped, Apple recorded the highest number of shipment at 28 % (10 million units) for the quarter. Samsung came second at 15.6% share with (6 million units) while Lenovo came third with 2.5 million units shipped.
According to Wilmer Ang, a Research Analyst at Calanys, competition from smartphones and, more recently, convertible two-in-one PCs has resulted in the weakness currently being experienced in the consumer segment, particularly cheap slate tablets running Android.
