Tablets' Return to Growth Could Be Fleeting Without Mid-Segment Players, Says IDC

Apple and Microsoft carried the worldwide detachable tablet market to growth in Q4 but the category's continued success depends on other PC makers’ participation and a willingness of international customers to embrace the form factor over convertible PCs, said a Monday IDC report. Worldwide, the detachable tablet market climbed 10 percent over the year-ago quarter but showed signs of slowing, with detachables advancing just 1.6 percent from 2016, IDC said. In Q4, Amazon unseated Samsung for second place in the combined detachables/slate market behind Apple, on holiday quarter discounting, selling 7.7 million Kindle Fires, a 50 percent hike from the year-ago quarter, it said. But end-user demand for slate tablets “has slowed significantly,” with 43.1 million tablets shipping in the quarter and 141.7 million for the year, said analyst Lauren Guenveur. Looking ahead, ARM-based Windows detachables due in Q2 could spur continued growth at the high end of the market, she said, but “what remains glaringly sparse, and needed, are strong players in the mid-segment.”