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Is the Tablet Market In Outright Collapse? Data Suggests Yes

Posted by timothy on from the then-give-me-a-cheap-nexus-9 dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes Is the tablet market rapidly collapsing? Mobile-analytics firm Flurry doesn't come to quite that stark a conclusion, but things aren't looking too good for touch-screens that don't qualify as "phablets." According to Flurry's numbers, full-sized tablets accounted for only 11 percent of new devices in 2014, a decline from 2013, when that form-factor totaled 17 percent of the new-device market; small tablets experienced a smaller decline, falling from 12 percent to 11 percent of new devices between 2013 and 2014. (Meanwhile, phablets expanded from 4 percent of new devices in 2013 to 13 percent this year.) Boy Genius Report, for its part, looked at those numbers and decided that the tablet market is doomed: "Consumers happy with compact smartphones are not switching to larger iPhones for now, but former tablet buyers are." That's not to say people will stop using tablets, but the onetime theory that they would one day cannibalize all PCs looks increasingly nebulous.

6 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. Also.. by SirGeek · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm not replacing my tablet every 2 - 3 years. When it comes to my phone ? Probably every 2 yearsish I'll replace it.

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    UPS Sucks
    1. Re:Also.. by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 3, Informative

      What is wrong with a 4 year old smartphone that still works?

      I have a 3+ year old iPhone 4s running iOS 7.1. It still works well enough, but it's starting to show its age. More and more apps are crashy, the touchscreen is less responsive & laggy and functions in the camera don't work very well anymore. In my region its only 3G and the battery life isn't too good. I could reset it back to out-of-box, but then Apple would try to update it to iOS 8, which I don't want.

  2. Re:Tablet? by sycodon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Also, tablets have a longer lifespan than your average smartphone. The tablet market could probably be called Mature now. Explosive growth is over, at least in the original Western Markets. You are looking at incremental growth and replacements.

    Mobil phones, on the other hand, are still P.O.S. devices that start breaking within a year or are obsoleted by he never ending OS updates, carrier technology, etc.

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    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  3. Re:Phone costs by spire3661 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Anyone who is paying attention can get a phone without subsidizing it with the carrier. I bought my Moto G outright ($200) and then took it to T-mobile to hook up.

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    Good-bye
  4. Microsoft has made their bed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Frequent, documented proof of astroturfing means that I will perpetually regard any overly positive review of a Microsoft product with suspicion. Maybe I'm hearing from a real fan or satisfied user, maybe it's just a paid employee.

    It's true, "Install Linux, problem solved!" is rarely if ever a useful answer to anything, but at least it's coming from an honestly deluded person (or a troll, but that's possible with pro-MS opinions, too), not a shill.

  5. Re:Price difference over two years by meta-monkey · · Score: 4, Informative

    It ain't exactly "subsidized." You still pay for the entire thing.

    I was off-contract with AT&T for a year with my old phone and I just opted for a Nexus 6. I thought about just buying it outright at $650, but if I signed a contract with AT&T for 2 years, I'd get the phone for only $250. Well...I've had good service with AT&T and when I tried T-Mobile it was impossible for me to make calls at home or work. No coverage. So okay, I'm not jumping ship from AT&T any time soon, anyway. The AT&T version only has 2 extra, easily uninstallable apps and is completely rootable and unlockable as any other Nexus, so vendor bloatware not a problem.

    So I buy my $250 phone. At checkout, they tell me there's a $40 "upgrade fee" that will appear on my next bill. Huh. Okay...still $290 is better than $650... I get my phone activate it, love it. A few days later I get a text from AT&T. Oh by the way...when you were off contract we were giving you a $15/month discount. But now that you're on contract, you no longer qualify for that. So your bill will go up by $15/month.

    Wait, so...let me get out my abacus here...$15/month...times 24 months...is $360...plus the $40 upgrade fee...plus the $250 out of pocket for the phone...damn it $650!

    And that's how they getcha. They always getcha...

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