Worldwide Tablet Growth To Remain Stalled For Years To Come; Apple iPad “Weakest Link” – IDC

On the heels of the first year-over-year decline in worldwide tablet shipments in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), the International Data Corporation (IDC) is scaling back its five year forecast for the product category. Worldwide shipments are expected to reach 234.5 million units in 2015, a modest year-over-year increase of 2.1% from 2014. Although the outlook has been tempered, IDC still expects low but positive growth for the tablet/2 in 1 category in the years to come as demand in the commercial sector increases, and as Microsoft slowly gains a foothold. “Despite the growing popularity of phablets, there still remains a portion of the market that wants to use a larger device so they can tailor their experience to the appropriate screen size,” says Jitesh Ubrani, IDC Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. “Meanwhile, an increasing number of vendors behind small tablets are reducing prices and adopting features like voice calling to entice consumers to purchase their products over competing phablets, making the dynamics of phablets vs voice-capable tablets an interesting one to watch.” In terms of platforms, Android will remain the leader, with close to two-thirds of the market over the course of the forecast. On the other hand, IDC expects once-upon-a-time-leader iOS will likely be the weakest link wth its volume share of the market contunuing to decline in 2015, reaching levels below that of the past three years. Meanwhile, Windows, despite modest adoption rates to date, is expected to gain significant share over the forecast intereval, the, growing from 5.1% in 2014 to 14.1% in 2019. “Microsoft is doing a lot of good things right now and we believe the launch of Windows 10 later this year will not only have a significant impact on Microsoft’s share of the market, but on the industry as a whole,” says Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC Research Director, Tablets. “There is an appetite for a platform that can provide a productivity experience that remains consistent across multiple form factors and device types, and we believe Microsoft is well positioned to capture some of that demand.” Taxonomy Note: Total tablet market includes slate tablets plus 2-in-1 tablets. References to “tablets” in this release include both slate tablets and 2-in-1 devices. IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC’s Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results are delivered to clients in user-friendly excel deliverables and on-line query tools. The IDC Tracker Charts app allows users to view data charts from the most recent IDC Tracker products on their iPhone and iPad. To learn more about IDC, visit: http://www.idc.com Source: IDC