Potential ‘Immense’ for Replacement Sales To Reverse Tablets’ Decline, Says Strategy Analytics

There's “immense” potential for new and replacement sales of tablets to reverse an expected 4 percent global decline in unit shipments this year and drive 7 percent growth in 2016, Strategy Analytics said in a Monday report. As replacement cycles have “lengthened” for both tablets and PCs in recent years, 2-in-1 detachable tablets “have become affordable enough that they will compete for consumer spend of both products,” said Peter King, Strategy Analytics research director-tablet and touch-screen strategies, in a statement. A household “could settle” on a 2-in-1 tablet for casual use, and then “transform” the product into a “dockable mini workstation when needed for more intensive activities,” King said. The prevalence of tablets with screens 11 inches and larger typifies the tablet’s “expanding feature set and usage model” as the product “plays into the prosumer and enterprise segments due to cost and functionality,” King said. Improved processor technologies from chipmakers like Intel have enabled tablets “to be more powerful, thinner, and lighter,” and that's also driving market adoption, he said. As Microsoft prepares to shed light at a Tuesday media event on its launch of the Surface Pro 4 laptop/tablet hybrid, “we see Microsoft leading the growing pack” of professional-grade tablets running Windows, said Eric Smith, Strategy Analytics senior analyst-tablet and touch-screen strategies service. July’s release of Windows 10 opened “opportunities” at the high end to better position tablets against PCs “on productivity needs and compatibility with the office setting,” Smith said. “Opportunity abounds” at the low end as well, where white-box vendors are already selling ultra-low-priced 2-in-1s to compete against low-end PCs and tablets for casual use,” and that is “particularly well-suited in emerging markets for consumers new to the computing segment,” Smith said.