Worldwide Tablet Growth to Slow to Single Digits for the Next Five Years [Chart]

Following the first year-over-year decline in worldwide tablet shipments during 4Q2014, IDC is scaling back its five year forecast for the category.

The International Data Corporation now expects worldwide shipments to reach 234.5 million units in 2015, a year-over-year increase of 2.1% from 2014. Despite the scaleback, IDC expects low but positive growth in years to come fueled by demand in the corporate sector and Microsoft's slow comeback.

Android is expected to remain the platform leader with about two-thirds of the market. IDC sees iOS as the weakest link with its market share set to decline. Windows is expected to gain significant share growing from 5.1% in 2014 to 14.1% in 2019.




"Despite the growing popularity of phablets, there still remains a portion of the market that wants to use a larger device so they can tailor their experience to the appropriate screen size," said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. "Meanwhile, an increasing number of vendors behind small tablets are reducing prices and adopting features like voice calling to entice consumers to purchase their products over competing phablets, making the dynamics of phablets vs voice-capable tablets an interesting one to watch."

"Microsoft is doing a lot of good things right now and we believe the launch of Windows 10 later this year will not only have a significant impact on Microsoft's share of the market, but on the industry as a whole," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, Research Director, Tablets. "There is an appetite for a platform that can provide a productivity experience that remains consistent across multiple form factors and device types, and we believe Microsoft is well positioned to capture some of that demand."

Take a look at the chart below for more details...


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