Tablet shipments slump by 13.5% – New IDC report

The tablet market is still going south; a new data from IDC has shown.  The international renowned research firm said the worldwide tablet market fell 13.5 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of this year. That means the tablet market has declined year-over-year for the past 15 consecutive quarters – casting a gloomy outlook on […]

The tablet market is still going south; a new data from IDC has shown.  The international renowned research firm said the worldwide tablet market fell 13.5 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of this year.

That means the tablet market has declined year-over-year for the past 15 consecutive quarters – casting a gloomy outlook on the state of tablet computer sales. 

The only bright spot in the report is that, among tablet manufacturers, Apple and Huawei saw their shipments tick slightly higher. 

Apple shipped 11.5 million tablets during the second quarter, up from 11.4 million in the previous year, while Huawei shipped 3.4 million tablets, an increase from the 3.1 million it shipped during the same period of 2017. That marked a 7.7 percent increase year-over-year for Huawei and a 0.9% annual increase for Apple.  

The total amount of tablets shipped worldwide in the second quarter was 33 million, down five million from the 2017 second quarter. 

‘‘Though consumers and businesses alike have shown interest in the detachable form factor, those operating on tighter budgets have had very few options available to them and hence some have opted for traditional PCs,’’ Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC, said in a statement. 

‘‘However, with the launch of the Surface Go, Chrome-OS-based, and hopefully a more affordable iPad Pro in the future, the detachable category still has a bright future, provided the performance and software lines up with users’ expectations.’’