Demand for tablets is slowing amid heavy demand for phablets and consumers deciding to hold onto their devices for longer, with research agency IDC reducing its sales predictions for the category for 2014.
The market grew by 51.8 percent during 2013 but IDC has changed its 2014 forecast from 260.9 million units sold to 245.4 million. This would mean the market would only have grown by 12.1 percent during this year.
Tom Mainelli, Program Vice-President, Devices and Displays at IDC, said: “Two major issues are causing the tablet market to slow down. First, consumers are keeping their tablets, especially higher-cost models from major vendors, far longer than originally anticipated. And when they do buy a new one they are often passing their existing tablet off to another member of the family.
“Second, the rise of phablets – smartphones with 5.5-inch and larger screens – are causing many people to second-guess tablet purchases as the larger screens on these phones are often adequate for tasks once reserved for tablets.”
During the past year, the phablets’ share of the smartphone market has more than doubled, from 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013, to 10.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 30.1 million units shipped.
IDC said it expected consumer demand to move towards even larger screened tablets, such as Microsoft’s recently announced 12 inch Surface Pro 3, in the coming years.
Jitesh Ubrani, Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, added: “The shift back toward larger screens will mark a welcome sea change for most vendors as the average selling price for these devices will remain roughly 50 percent higher than the average sub-8-inch device. Microsoft is also expected to benefit from this shift as the share for Windows-based devices is expected to double between now and 2018.”