Tablet market's 'downward spiral' continues with eleventh quarter of decline - IDC

Worldwide shipments down 3.4 per cent

The tablet market continued its "downward spiral" in Q2 this year, according to IDC, with worldwide shipments falling 3.4 per cent.

The year-on-year decline was caused by tight consumer spending, IDC said, with buyers holding out for new product lines in the second half of this year.

The drought even led to a decline in shipments of detachables in Q2, as consumers wait for flagship launches from Apple and Microsoft. Detachables had previously been a shining light for the tablet market, which has now been in a state of decline for 11 consecutive quarters.

"The tablet market has essentially become a race to see if the burgeoning detachables category can grow fast enough to offset the long-term erosion of the slate market," said IDC research director Linn Huang.

"From that lens, the second quarter was a slight righting of the ship and there is still much to be hopeful about in the back half of 2017.

"New product launches from Microsoft and Apple are generally accompanied by subsequent quarters of inflated shipments.

"The reintroduction of Windows to the ARM platform could help remedy the aforementioned hollowing of the middle of the market, and we expect a proliferation of Chrome OS-based detachables in time for the holidays."

Despite the market decline, three of the top five tablet vendors saw their quarterly shipments increase year on year.

First-placed Apple, third-placed Huawei and fourth-placed Amazon all saw growth, while second-placed Samsung saw flat growth and Lenovo saw a decline.

Apple grew its market share to 30.1 per cent in the quarter, while Samsung remained second with 15.8 per cent.