The whole tablet market has been dropping for the past 3 years or so, but there were a few “bastions”, that kept growing. India has been doing well for a while, but today we learn that this market dropped by 18%, with 3.5 million units moved last year.
The info comes via a CMR report. Datawind remains the top seller, with a 34% market share, followed by Samsung with 18% and Pantel with 12%, as well as Micromax with 10%. The whole tablet PC area in India decreased by 18%, reaching 3.5 million units over the past year and the Q4 time frame brought a 16% decline of its own. Shipments of 2G tablets fell by 92% compared to the previous years, while sales of 3G devices declined 71%.
It seems that 4G models were the big winners, with a bump of 6% over the past 12 months. Devices with iris scanners and new type of biometric scanners are expected to be a big deal in 2017 and especially in the institutional and government area. Around 40 players have exited the tablet market over the past years and only 6-7 players are serious right now, at least in India and according to CMR.
