{"id":74764,"date":"2014-11-30T00:05:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-29T22:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=74764"},"modified":"2014-11-28T16:22:15","modified_gmt":"2014-11-28T14:22:15","slug":"global-tablet-market-faces-even-slower-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/74764\/global-tablet-market-faces-even-slower-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Global tablet market faces even slower growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The worldwide tablet market is expected to see a massive deceleration in 2014 with year-over-year growth slowing to 7.2%, down from 52.5% in 2013, according to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC).<\/p>\n

At the core of this slowdown is the expectation that 2014 will represent the first full year of decline in Apple iPad shipments.<\/p>\n

Both the iPad and the overall market slowdown do not come as a surprise as device lifecycles for tablets have continued to lengthen, increasingly resembling those of PCs more than smartphones.<\/p>\n

“The tablet market continues to be impacted by a few major trends happening in relevant markets,” said Ryan Reith, Program Director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers.<\/p>\n

“In the early stages of the tablet market, device lifecycles were expected to resemble those of smartphones, with replacement occurring every 2-3 years. What has played out instead is that many tablet owners are holding onto their devices for more than 3 years and in some instances more than 4 years. ”<\/p>\n

“We believe the two major drivers for longer than expected tablet lifecycles are legacy software support for older products, especially within iOS, and the increased use of smartphones for a variety of computing tasks,” he said.<\/p>\n

Worldwide Tablet\/2-in-1 Shipments, 2014-2018 (shipment volumes in millions) <\/b><\/h3>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
OS<\/strong><\/td>\n2014 Shipment Values
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n		2014 Market Share
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n		YoY growth
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n		2018 Shipment Values
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n		2018 Market Share
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n		YoY Growth
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n		2014-2018 CAGR
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Android<\/td>\n159.5<\/td>\n67.7%<\/td>\n16.0%<\/td>\n183.1<\/td>\n64.0%<\/td>\n2.2%<\/td>\n5.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
iOS<\/td>\n64.9<\/td>\n27.5%<\/td>\n-12.7%<\/td>\n70.1<\/td>\n24.5%<\/td>\n2.2%<\/td>\n-1.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Windows<\/td>\n10.9<\/td>\n4.6%<\/td>\n67.3%<\/td>\n32.6<\/td>\n11.4%<\/td>\n17.9%<\/td>\n38.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.2%<\/td>\n-70.6%<\/td>\n0.1<\/td>\n0.0%<\/td>\n-11.3%<\/td>\n-43.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n235.7<\/strong><\/td>\n100.0%<\/strong><\/td>\n7.2%<\/strong><\/td>\n285.9<\/strong><\/td>\n100.0%<\/strong><\/td>\n3.8%<\/strong><\/td>\n5.4%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Among different form factors and product groups, significant advancements have been made recently by hardware manufacturers to advance the 2-in-1, or detachable, product category.<\/p>\n

Devices have become thinner, prices have come down, and more models are available. Despite these advances, shipments of 2-in-1 devices are only expected to reach 8.7 million units in 2014, which is just 4% of the total tablet plus 2-in-1 market.<\/p>\n

A large reason for the relatively small uptake has been consumer hesitancy around the Windows 8 platform, which the majority of 2-in-1 devices are built upon.<\/p>\n

Looking forward, the IDC said that the few unknowns that could impact overall tablet shipments are:<\/p>\n