Tablet Market Continues To Decline, Per IDC

With little or no innovation in tablet technology and with tablet upgrades few and far between, the tablet market continues to slow down, declining 7 percent year over year during the second quarter of 2015, as reported by market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

According to IDC’s data, shipments of tablets across all markets in the world numbered 44.7 million units during the second quarter of this year. Compared to the 48 million units of tablets that were shipped during the second quarter in 2014, this year’s second quarter numbers are definitely far from being an improvement.

The past few quarters have seen wildly inconsistent sales of tablet devices. Various industry watchers have pointed to market saturation and increasingly tough competition as factors that have all played a major role in the erratic showing of tablets in terms of sales in the last several months. Even Apple is not immune to the struggle -- shipments of the company's tablets, including the bigger iPad and its smaller sibling the iPad Mini, have decreased 26 percent compared to the second quarter of 2013. Many are now left wondering if tablets have reached their ceiling in terms of growth.

Tablets used to grab a special niche in the minds of consumers. But now that there is an increased appreciation for phablets, or smartphones with large display screen sizes, more and more people are using less and less of tablets in favor of the latest phablets available in the market.

Despite dwindling sales for tablets in general, Apple remains the leader in the global tablet market, capturing a 24.5 percent market share by shipping 10.9 million units during the second quarter of this year. Behind Apple is its fierce rival Samsung, which managed to ship 7.6 million units in order to get a 17 percent market share. Taking the number three spot is Lenovo, with 2.5 million units shipped and 5.7 percent market share. Rounding out the top five are LG and Huawei who are tied at fourth place, with each shipping 1.6 million units.

Interestingly, leaders Apple and Samsung combine for a 41.5 market share, which has dropped compared to the combined 65.7 percent market share they managed during the second quarter of last year. This indicates that other tablet makers like Lenovo, Huawei, and LG are eating away at Apple's and Samsung's combined market share.