Tablet shipments experience first ever decline in Q4 2014

Tablet and two-in-one shipments hit 76.1 million in Q4 2014 slipping by 3.2 per cent year on year.
This is the market’s first decline since tablets were introduced in 2010. Amazon saw the biggest decline in the final quarter of last year for shipments, which were down 69.9 per cent from 2013, ASUS shipments were also down 24.9 per cent.
Apple and Samsung who dominate the market with 33.1 per cent and 17.2 per cent share respectively, reports the IDC.
However Apple experienced a 17.8 per cent drop and Samsung reported a 18.4 per cent decline in shipments during Q4 last year.
This begs the question as to if the tablet market relies to heavily on the two companies.
Jitseh Ubrani, senior research analyst at Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, said: “The tablet market is still very top heavy in the sense that it relies mostly on Apple and Samsung to carry the market forward each year.
Although Apple expanded its iPad lineup by keeping around older models and offering a lower entry price point of $249, it still wasn’t enough to spur iPad sales given the excitement around the launch of the new iPhones.
“Meanwhile, Samsung’s struggles continued as low-cost vendors are quickly proving that mid to high-priced Android tablets simply aren’t cut out for today’s tablet market.”
Overall shipments from 2014 were actually up 4.4 per cent hitting 229.6 million units, however the fourth quarter results may be a sign on things to come.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...q4-2014/035534