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Tablet Shipments Decline For 13th Straight Quarter (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the dead-beat dept.

The tablet market has now declined year-over-year for 13 quarters straight. From a report: Q4 2017 saw a 7.9 percent year-over-year decline: 49.6 million units shipped worldwide, compared to 53.8 million units in the same quarter last year. The only silver lining is that declines for 2017 haven't been in the double-digits, like they were in 2016.

4 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. What's a computer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh, that thing I have to use for anything more complicated than watching Youtube videos.

  2. Bit more than a fad by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I remember when tablets started getting popular I thought they were just a fad.

    I think they lasted long enough to not be considered a fad, but I think the basic problem remains. They're not as convenient as a phone and they're not as usable as a laptop. Sure, helps if you have a keyboard case... but still a laptop will always do more. I think there will always be a demographic that likes tablets (children for one)... they're just not as useful for most things. They will have their niche.

    A tablet is after all just a clunky phone or a crippled laptop.

    How many people bought a tablet expecting to do great things with it and after a month or so barely used it, instead preferring their phone (or laptop)? I imagine most tablet buyers (at least that's how most people I know who have a tablet operated).

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:Bit more than a fad by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have a tablet and use it more than either my phone or laptop as I find it a good compromise in terms of usability and screen real estate. Granted, I'm not doing any development work or other work on it which is what the notebook is there for, but I tend not to use my phone for anything if I have any other option available.

      I think that the real problem for tablets is that there's no compelling reason to upgrade them as often as phones. The iPad Air 2 that I bought when it first came out is over 3 years old at this point and isn't showing any particular signs of aging. The browser is still plenty speedy and even if that started to suck, I can't see the Netflix app being too slow for it to be usable for that.

      I could easily see that thing lasting for another 3 years and Apple may well continue offering OS updates for it over that period as well. I think tablets have their uses over other devices, but I just don't think they need to be replaced very often.

  3. It's about the use case by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I remember when tablets started getting popular I thought they were just a fad.

    Really? It seemed clear enough to me right away that they were going to be a strong market segment for a long time.

    I think they lasted long enough to not be considered a fad, but I think the basic problem remains. They're not as convenient as a phone and they're not as usable as a laptop.

    That depends entirely on what you are doing. A tablet is most useful for things where you might have used a clipboard or binder for previously. Think stuff like doctor's offices using them in patient rooms to record data. A phone doesn't have enough screen size and a laptop is too cumbersome. Tablets hit a nice form factor for tasks like that.

    They also are nice for people who don't need all the bells and whistles of a laptop but for whom a phone is too small. My grandmother uses an iPad to do various tasks. She can't handle the complexity of a laptop and a phone is too small for her to see or use efficiently. The young and the elderly as well as the (ahem) technologically impaired tend to fall into this category.

    A lot of sales people that come to my office these days use tablets and it's a good fit. A laptop is overkill and presents the company a needless administrative burden (read $$$) and security risk.

    Short version is that there are a ton of non-trivial use cases where tablets are the best option.

    A tablet is after all just a clunky phone or a crippled laptop.

    Only if you are using it wrong. It's all about the use case. There are things you can do on a tablet that are awkward to impossible on a phone because of the screen size difference. There are tasks where using a mouse/keyboard is inefficient or unnecessary. Sometimes people don't need the extra complexity of a full blown PC because they are just doing some light web browsing or email or watching some videos.