Tablet growth to plummet as hybrid devices take over

Tablet market set to grow only 11 per cent annually this year, compared with 55 per cent in 2013

The rising popularity of two-in-one devices is set to be partly responsible for a steep decline in tablet growth this year.

According to Gartner, global tablet sales will reach 229 million units in 2014, up 11 per cent on last year. But in 2013, annual growth stood at 55 per cent, representing a sharp plummet in annual growth this year.

"In the tablets segment, the downward trend stems from the slowdown in basic ultramobiles – new sales of iPads and Android tablets – and the lifetime extension of current tablets to three years by 2018," the analyst said. "Gartner projects over 90 million fewer new tablet purchases and 155 million fewer tablet replacements through 2018."

Its research director Ranjit Atawl added:"Some tablet users are not replacing a tablet with a tablet, they are favouring hybrid or two-in-one devices."

Elsewhere in the device market, Gartner predicts that the falling price of smartphones will see sales soar by 52 per cent year on year by the end of 2014.

Gartner's research director Roberta Cozza predicts that by 2018, nine out of 10 phones worldwide will be smartphones.

"The market is clearly favouring those vendors offering value in lower-priced smartphones," she said. "This trend has become more apparent, especially in the second quarter of 2014 when most of the top Chinese smartphone vendors grew volume and market share."