The year over year growth of the tablet market is said to fall this year by quite a bit, compared to the 2013 figures. The info comes from IDC and shows a fall by more than 45%, with Apple estimated to register its first shipment decline in the iPad history.
The main problem here is the longer replacement cycle for tablets. Consumers are now replacing tablets every 4 years or more, instead of 2 or 3 like before. The tablet market is said to grow 7.2% this year, compared to the 52.5% from 2013. Digging into the tablet popularity are bigger phablets, like the Nexus 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, that tend to make a 7 inch slate useless nowadays.
Consumers also don’t feel the need to replace a tablet anymore, because manufactures are keeping the devices up to date with software patches and fresh releases. Meanwhile, there was hope that the laptop/tablet hybrids would help this market, but that didn’t happen, since those models only stand for 4% of the market, with manufacturers having to try out new things. Where does the secret to more growth lie?
