Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 started something big late last year, ushering in the era of laptop wannabes that are more popular than iPads. Convertibles were a huge deal at CES and now IDC has some predictions that confirm these trends.
They’re saying that “iPad-like tablets” are facing market shrinkage, while the Surface units and their copycats will grow. Consumers are generally less interested in tablets nowadays, with detachables being the only segment that could generate growth today. iPad and iPad-like models will drop 5.9% in sales this year, said the same source.
Apple already registered a quarterly all time low last fall, with 16.1 million iPads moved, 5 million less than a year before. Even with the iPad Pro being a hit, it wasn’t enough. In the meantime, companies like Huawei and Samsung are capitalizing on the detachable boom, with models like MateBook and Tab S Pro. IDC predicts that detachables will go from 16.6 million units shipped in 2015 to 63.8 million by 2020.
Windows models will also grow with the segment.
