Dive Brief:
- The worldwide tablet market dropped 8.5% in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same time in 2016, according to IDC. Total global shipments in Q1 fell to 36.2 million.
- It’s the tenth straight quarter tablets have seen a drop. The previous five quarters have seen double-digit drops.
- Apple remained the leader in the table market, though it saw its 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year shipment decline. Samsung remained the number two tablet provider but saw shipments decline 1.1% year over year in the quarter. Huawei was the only company to see positive growth in the quarter, with shipments up 31.7% from the first quarter a year ago.
Dive Insight:
Apple had hoped to turn things around in the slate-style tablet market last year with the iPad Pro, but it looks like it just won’t happen. IDC says it expects to see sales of slate-style tablets to continue to drop for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, detachable tablets are seeing continued growth. This is likely due to the fact that slate-style tablets are more limited in function and capacity. But detachable tablets, with their full function keyboards and expanded capacity, work more like traditional PCs and laptops while offering better agility.
Given the increase in workplace mobility, devices like detachable tablets or even mid-range laptops that don’t have the all the bells and whistles of a Mac high-end PC could see strong growth in the enterprise. Especially since they don't have as high of a price tag.
