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Worldwide Tablet Growth Expected to Slow to 7.2% in 2014 as iPad Sees First Yearly Decline

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The worldwide tablet tablet market is expected to see a significant decline for 2014, according to reports from the International Data Corporation. The tablet market's year-over-year growth is expected to be 7.2% this year, down from 52.5% in 2013. According to the analysts, one of the central reasons for the market slowdown is the expectation that 2014 will be the first year Apple will see a decline in iPad shipments.

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IDC expects Apple to ship 64.9 million iPads this calendar year, a decline of 12.7 percent from 2013. Capturing 67.7 percent market share and shipping 159.5 million devices, Google's Android operating system will continue to be the most popular OS for tablets.

Total tablet market shipments is projected to hit 235.7 million units shipped, yielding relatively small growth of 7.2 percent over 2013. As a comparison, shipments in the worldwide tablet market saw 52.5 percent growth from 2012 to 2013. IDC equates this slowdown in growth to the longer lifespan of tablets in the modern market.

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"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. "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. We believe the two major drivers for longer than expected tablet life-cycles are legacy software support for older products, especially within iOS, and the increased use of smartphones for a variety of computing tasks."
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IDC also points towards consumer hesitancy over Windows 8 tablets for such low market shares in the total tablet and 2-in-1, or detachable, product market, a space Microsoft largely owns at the moment. Microsoft will only see about 11 million tablet shipments this year, equating to less than 5% of the overall tablet market.
"We need to look at how the tablet ecosystem is answering these challenges, and right now we see a lot of pressure on tablet prices and an influx of entry-level products, which ultimately serves Android really well," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, Research Director for Tablets. "But we also see tablet manufacturers trying to offset this price pressure by focusing on larger screens and cellular-enabled tablets. The next six months should be really interesting."
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Looking forward, IDC sees a few factors that could impact the worldwide tablet market, including the overall industry reaction to Windows 10, what Google does in the tablet space with Android and Chrome OS, and the yearly potential of even more products from Apple. But, according to IDC, "Despite all of these unknowns, it seems clear that consumers can be expected to hold onto tablets longer than smartphones."

Article Link: Worldwide Tablet Growth Expected to Slow to 7.2% in 2014 as iPad Sees First Yearly Decline
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/25/tablet-growth-slows-ipad-decline/
When a 2011 iPad 2 still works great in 2014, this is to be expected.
 
There's too many iPads out now. If you weren't keeping up with the releases you would never know. mini 2, mini 3, mini retina 3, air 2 it's too much.

And there's no difference between them. The air 2 is closer to what the original air should've been. The original air never had to happen
 
Surprised they didn't point out that since most smartphones are sold at a subsidized price people upgrade faster. If iPads started at $199 we'd see more people upgrade more often.
 
It's inevitable. The market gets saturated and hits a plateau. Same thing happened to desktop/laptop computers which prompted many to declare that tablets had killed them and the post-PC era had begun. Even "experts" are remarkably shortsighted.
 
I know they are talking about a decline but 65 million? That is still a good peace of selling!!
 
Oldfash33 said:
Could the Phablet have anything to do with it by chance?
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We believe the two major drivers for longer than expected tablet life-cycles are legacy software support for older products, especially within iOS, and the increased use of smartphones for a variety of computing tasks.
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In short, apparently yes. I'm hoping that the above reasoning doesn't prompt Apple to make their devices obsolete quicker. That hasn't happened with the Mac, so I'm hoping iPads have the same kind of longevity.

Apple seems to know this and to their credit appears to be focusing on feature innovation to spur upgrades (i.e.: Touch ID, Apple Pay, etc.). But even with that, once they've sold a half-billion tablets, how many more can they realistically sell?

I think it's time for an Apple Watch....
 
1. There only so many times you can keep making a tablet thin before people catch on to what you're doing. Apple ran out of ideas. It's the same make it faster, thinner and add a non essential feature to the tablet experience.

2. Phablets including the iPhone 6 plus are more popular than tablets.

3. Apple keeps the iPad updated. No reason to drop another $500.

4. The asking price for the 16GB 9.7" iPad is still $500.

5. The tablet is not a replacement for a computer.

6. People just don't need a tablet.

7. The market is over saturated. People that want a iPad already have an iPad.
 
No surprise, people don't replace iPads nearly as often as they do iPhones. This is where the iPad Pro and the IBM partnership provides a huge opportunity for growth. Start selling iPads in volume to enterprise and you've got growth guaranteed.

The consumer market will pale in comparison because people are finding that they could do on their iPhones most of what they used to do on their home desktops and laptops.
 
You can't expect Apple sales to keep going up forever. They have to decline at some point.
 
There are too many iPads coming out. The market can't support this amount. It's not the iPhone market, but its being treated as such. At this rate Apple will collapse on itself
 
Total iPad sales would be fine if the Mini had a competitive display.

The next impetus for 9.7" iPad owners to upgrade will be a move to a 3x display resolution.. I still suspect Apple will want to standardize the display resolution for the 9.7" and 12.9" iPads, so 3X 2304x3072 would be perfect. That puts density at 396ppi for the 9.7" and 298 ppi for 12.9" (315ppi for 12.2").

Probably two years for such high density 10+ inch IPS panels. They are just ramping up production for similar sizes and density this year so Apple-sized volumes are likely not possible or at least too expensive.

Meanwhile Samsung are slaughtering Apple in display quality. Their tablets suck in every other way, but the display is what we use the most and it attracts consumers the most. Apple COULD compete if they chose to invest more in LCD technology and production, but that would eat into their almighty profit margins so no way. "It's good enough" is the new motto at Apple - no longer do Apple users get advanced display tech.
 
dannyyankou said:
Meanwhile, my MacBook pro usage has significantly declined since I got the iPad Air 2.
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I have an iPad Air, which is a terrific device, but my usage is moving in the other direction lately. After having the original iPad and then an iPad 3, and now the Air slowly replace some of my iMac and MacBook usage, I now find myself using my MacBook Air (2011) and iPhone 6 Plus more and the iPads less and less.

Nowadays, I'm actually more excited about new MacBooks than I am new iPads. Basically a MacBook Air is about as portable as an iPad Air, while being so much more capable in many ways, and not much more expensive. And my 2011 MBA is still going strong while my 2012 iPad 3 feels obsolete and slow. The newer MacBook Airs actually have battery life that meets or surpasses iPads and when the MBA gains a retina screen, that will be one less reason for me to prefer the iPad.
 
Cayden said:
There are too many iPads coming out. The market can't support this amount. It's not the iPhone market, but its being treated as such. At this rate Apple will collapse on itself
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Agreed. It's too confusing for consumers, and all the extra models seem to be used to obscure the fact that NONE of the Mini iPads actually have a competitive display. Low-end tablets also dilute Apple's reputation for excellence and end up harming future sales.

Apple should create an iPad lineup similar to the laptop lineup. Offer a single line called "iPad" in two or three different sizes. That is most simple for consumers and assuming Apple don't gimp the smallest one, they all contribute to a reputation for excellence.

A few neighbors and family members for whom I do tech support are utterly bewildered at all the iPad models. "Air", "3", "4", "Mini", "Retina Mini", WTF? Who can remember all that nonsense? Just call it an iPad and be done with it! There shouldn't even be any non-retina iPads on sale!
 
The problem is that tablets lack innovation, especially on the software side. Email, browsing, watching videos works great, most other things - even basic stuff like typing - are cumbersome. There's great potential in gaming, but most iOS games are oversimplified versions of desktop applications.

Actually there's not much that you can do with a 2014 iPad Air that can't be done with a 2011 iPad 2.
 
ricci said:
I know they are talking about a decline but 65 million? That is still a good peace of selling!!
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And you have the applause of the day...these ANALysts are counting $29 Walmart tablets in the same breath as Ipads - this is an Ipad market and will remain like that for a long time, since only Apple has the resources to continue to invest in tablets - the Ipad Air 2 is a fabulous product.
 
Woyzeck said:
Actually there's not much that you can do with a 2014 iPad Air that can't be done with a 2011 iPad 2.
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Being able to do it is one thing, enjoying doing it is another one. The A5 class devices (iPad 2, iPad 3rd, original iPad mini, iPhone 4S) do struggle under iOS 8.
 
DaveTheRave said:
Surprised they didn't point out that since most smartphones are sold at a subsidized price people upgrade faster. If iPads started at $199 we'd see more people upgrade more often.
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Exactly right. I don't know why threads and articles like this have to happen, its obvious.

1. Smartphones have a carrier subsidy so anyone with little or no cash can buy one, iPads are just as expensive, but you have to buy one, as in pay for it.

2. As an iPad is costly, and great, they will often not be bought very regularly, they have a longer life in the hands of the consumer

3. Here in NZ you can buy a cheap Android tablet for NZ$89. Its rubbish, but you can see sales of these being common, then a resale as the consumer buys a better one, say $200 then dang it, hates it, buys another, say $400. That overstates the real sales volume.

4. With iPhone sales being high, and the temptation to upgrade every year or two, thats less cash for a tablet
 
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