Quarterly tablet shipments fall, year-over-year, for first time ever

An interesting piece of information from NPD DisplaySearch's latest Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report shows that tablets actually saw a decline year-over-year in the Q1 2014, marking the first time the industry has seen a YoY decline.

56 million tablets were shipped for the quarter, and as a result, NPD dropped their annual forecast to 285 million from 315 million, a rather significant reduction.

"Tablet PC demand in 2014 is being impacted by falling demand for seven-inch-class sizes in emerging regions and in China, where many local white-box brands have experienced lower-than-expected shipment growth," noted Hisakazu Torii, vice president, smart application research at NPD DisplaySearch. "Most major brands have recently reduced their business plans for 2014. There is a risk that the replacement cycle for tablet PCs will lengthen beyond the one to two year range unless brands can develop more attractive usage scenarios."

The major reason cited for the drop was increasing competition from phablet smartphones that have screen sizes 5.5-inches or higher and can do everything a 7-inch tablet can, and usually more.

Tablet makers have begun moving towards 7.9-8.9-inch models to combat the effects, and also getting much larger with tablets equaling laptop sizes at over 12 inches, as well.

Source:
TNW

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 9 Jul 2014 21:52

adre02

The 7" tablet is almost obsolete as the smart phone size nears 6". However, personally I would never purchase a tablet over 10". 12 is like having a small laptop. We sell a 14" tablet. At some point it is just too much of an inconvenience.

This is superman

10.7.2014 00:07 #1

hearme0

Tablets fall, PCs fall.....gimme a break. This isn't news! It's an inevitable trend that occurs upon market saturation.

Everyone that wants one ALREADY HAS ONE. And I imagine that many that OWN ONE don't actually use them and use their phones only.

10.7.2014 18:32 #2

molsen

I think many feel people are just going to swap out tablet every year or every other. For my family, it is a easy internet browser, I don't need the latest and the greatest. It gets to show my wife's proof sets to customers, when needed, and it provides entertainment for my kid. All is good.

I think tablets are going to cannibalize pc sales and people will by tablets like they buy PCs. JMHO.

11.7.2014 09:14 #3

mightyzog

Wasn't it this time last year that everyone was raising their forecast for 2013.... Due to higher sales figures. Well, higher sales growth last year has obviously contributed to lower sales figures this year. Over saturation.

And I would actually buy a 7in tablet over a 6in phone any day. My iphone 5 fits nicely in my pocket. I couldn't imagine trying to fit phablet in my pocket.

11.7.2014 11:07 #4

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