Stefan Mileschin

Sales of tablets have continued to fall in the third quarter of this year – that’s the fourth quarter in a row showing a decline.

IDC released figures showing that shipments were down by 12.6 percent in the third quarter, compared to the same quarter this time last year.

Shipments amounted to 48.7 million units worldwide, and the installed base of tablets at the end of last year was 581.9 million units, up 36 percent from 2013.

IDC said that it believes people are hanging onto devices for four years or more, but added to that, the smartphone installed base is getting bigger and phone display sizes are larger.

The market is on the move, said IDC, and there are signs that people are considering detachable machines, the so-called 2-in-1s.

The problem there is that these detachables are much more expensive than smartphones and, for that matter, tablets.

Apple remains the top dog in the market, although the shine is coming off its tablet line because of “self cannibilisation”. Samgung i second, followed by Lenovo, Asis, and Huawei.

http://www.techeye.net/news/tablet-shipments-slump