Amazon Buoying Slate Tablet Market But Shift to Detachables 'Inevitable,' Says IDC

Worldwide tablet shipments will likely drop by 12 percent this year, to 182.3 million shipments, IDC reported. The researcher expects the tablet market to rebound in 2018, but growth will be in the low single digits as detachable tablets gain traction. Thin and light designs combined with a touch screen are driving growth in detachables while also “bleeding over” into the PC market as slim and convertible notebooks become more popular, said analyst Jitesh Ubrani Thursday. The trend is a “welcome change for vendors” with average selling prices for notebooks and tablets projected to rise near term, Ubrani said. Mature markets will experience positive single-digit growth until 2020, with the decline in slate tablets offset by growth in detachables, said IDC. Slate tablets will remain “relevant,” said analyst Jean Philippe Bouchard, citing Amazon’s Kindle Fire portfolio, but the “transition to detachables is inevitable.” Slate tablets will have twice the volume of the detachable segment, with 124 million units projected to ship in 2020, he said. Small tablets (7-9 inches) will hold 56.4 percent market share this year, down from 59.9 percent in 2015, falling to 39.7 percent in 2020, said IDC. Medium 9-13-inch tablets, with 39.8 percent share last year, will grow to 43.1 percent this year, and to 58.2 percent in 2020, said the forecast. Large tablets over 13 inches hold a minor share at 0.5 percent in 2016 projections, edging up to 2.1 percent by 2020, it said.