Worldwide Tablet Shipments Experience Fourth Quarter Year-Over-Year Decline for the First Time [Chart]

Worldwide tablet shipments recorded a year-over-year decline for the first time since the market's inception in 2010, according to a new IDC report.

Overall shipments for tablets and 2-in-1 devices reached 76.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14) for -3.2% growth, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. Although the fourth quarter witnessed a decline in the global market, shipments for the full year 2014 increased 4.4%, totaling 229.6 million units.

IDC notes that Apple's lead over other vendors has yet to be truly challenged as it shipped 21.4 million tablets, accounting for over a quarter of the market with 28.1% volume share. Despite Samsung's woes, it managed to hold on to the second place with 11 million units shipped. Lenovo (4.8%), ASUS (4%), and Amazon (2.3%) rounded out the top 5 although only Lenovo managed to grow annually when compared to Q4 2013. Lenovo maintained its tight grip on the Asia/Pacific market thanks to its massive scale in the PC business and the success of its low-cost tablet offerings.


"The tablet market is still very top heavy in the sense that it relies mostly on Apple and Samsung to carry the market forward each year," said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. "Although Apple expanded its iPad lineup by keeping around older models and offering a lower entry price point of $249, it still wasn't enough to spur iPad sales given the excitement around the launch of the new iPhones. Meanwhile, Samsung's struggles continued as low-cost vendors are quickly proving that mid- to high-priced Android tablets simply aren't cut out for today's tablet market."

While Apple's iPad sales were down 18%, CEO Tim Cook remained optimistic about the tablet's future during the company's recent earnings call. Cook sees room to grow in especially in the enterprise via its partnership with IBM.

However, analysts are predicting a massive drop off in iPad sales for Q1. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that iPad sales will drop 54.5% QoQ.

"We forecast iPad shipments will fall 54.5% QoQ to 9.8mn units in 1Q15, given a lack of new applications, tablet market saturation and slow season."


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