Tablet Shipments Continue to Slip

The first quarter of 2015 wasn’t exactly a huge success for the tablet market, according to new figures from IDC.

Worldwide tablet shipments suffered a year-over-year decline for a second consecutive quarter from January through March, the research firm said(Opens in a new window) Thursday. Tablet and 2-in-1 device shipments fell to 47.1 million, a 5.9 percent drop from the same quarter a year ago. That comes after the tablet market notably faced its first year-over-year decline in shipments in the fourth quarter of 2014.

“The market slowdown that we witnessed last quarter is continuing to impact the tablet segment,” IDC Tablet Research Director Jean Philippe Bouchard said in a statement.

But it wasn’t all bad news. On a more positive note, Bouchard said some growth areas are starting to emerge. Cellular-enabled tablets, for instance, are outgrowing the rest of the market, he said.

“In addition to driving higher usage than Wi-Fi-only tablets, cellular-enabled tablets also help position the segment as true mobile solutions rather than stay-at-home devices,” Bouchard added.

Breaking it down by individual tablet vendors, Apple is still the king of the tablet market, despite five consecutive quarters of negative annual shipment growth, IDC said. Cupertino shipped 12.6 million iPads in the first quarter, capturing 26.8 percent of the market, but faced a 22.9 percent decline in shipments compared to the year-ago quarter.

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IDC said that iPads continue to suffer from the success of the new iPhone and the Mac product line, something Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged in a recent earnings call. The research firm expects Apple to keep posting negative growth until it gives the iPad lineup a serious refresh, like a larger-screen version.

Meanwhile, Samsung maintained its second place spot during the first quarter, with 19.1 percent of the market, despite a 16.5 percent decline in shipments compared to the same period last year. Lenovo came in third with a 5.3 percent share of the market, followed by Asus with 3.8 percent, and LG with 3.1 percent.