This year is proving to be rather flat for tablet
computers. A new International Data Corp. (IDC) report predicts growth in shipments
of new tablets will fall to 7% in 2014, compared to 52.5% growth just a year
ago.
The report said worldwide tablet shipments for 2014
will be 235.7 million units, with Android devices accounting for 67.7% of the
total. The iPad comes in at 27.5% and 4.6% of the shipments will be Windows
tablets.
“In the early stages of the tablet market, device
lifecycles were expected to resemble those of smartphones, with replacement occurring
every two or three years,” said Ryan Rieth, program director of the mobile-device
trackers at IDC. “What has played out instead is that many tablet owners are
holding onto their devices for more than three years and, in some instances,
more than four years.”
The pace at which consumers replace their tablets is
just one part of the slowdown. The iPad, which has been the industry standard, has
seen its sales slip 14% because of competition from dozens of inexpensive
Android models. In addition, Apple has failed to make the kinds of upgrades to
the device that get people back into a buying mode, according to a report from C/Net.
IDC also reported that PC shipments continue to fall,
but at a far slower rate than expected. Total shipments in 2014 will likely be
around 306 million units.
“In the best case for PCs, we’d see a significant wave
of replacement as users who spent on phones and tablets in recent years decide
they really need to update their PC,” said Loren Loverde, vice president of
Worldwide PC Trackers. “As younger generations become more mobile and web-oriented, and emerging regions in particular prioritize converged devices
(or economy in number of devices to purchase), the PC market will continue to
face tough competition and be more focused on replacements, with limited
potential for growth.”
