Few last years were definitely marked with expansion of the tablet market and it was only earlier last year that we saw a certain shift in market focus and now, tablet shipments have seen its first-ever decline in quarterly tablet shipments.

While earlier in September, IDC has downgraded its 2014 forecast when it comes to tablet shipments, it was only the fourth quarter of 2014 when we see the first-ever decline in quarterly tablet shipments. According to the new IDC report, manufacturers managed to ship 76.1 million tablets and 2-in-1 devices during Q4, which is a 3.4 percent drop compared to the same quarter last year. While the market generally grew in 2014, the growth has significantly dropped compared to 2013.

IDC sees the main reason for the decline of in the fact that tablet market mostly relies on Apple ans Samsung to push it forward each year and although Apple has expanded its iPad lineup, it still was not enough to overcome the launch of new iPhones while Samsung is struggling with low-cost vendors.

According to the same IDC report, both Apple and Samsung saw a drop in tablet shipments for around 18 percent. Asus and Amazon were hit even harder with 24.9 and 69.9 percent drop, respectively. The Lenovo is the only bright star with a 9.1 percent growth in Q4 2014.




Despite the drop in Q4 2014, IDC expects a certain growth in the tablet market in 2015. Most of this growth will be focused on the launch of Windows 10 and innovations that will bring as well as the arrival of larger and more "productivity focused" devices, including larger iPad.




Source: Businesswire.com.