Tablets are not that popular with most consumers and currently they are widely used in business settings. Most consumers who are targeted by tablet manufacturers tend to get phablets instead of tablets and this hurts shipments and sales.
2016 will not be a positive year for tablet manufacturers as shipments will decrease by 5.9% according to IDC. The research firm said that as tablet shipments drop, we will see a rise in the shipment of 2-in-1 devices which act more as laptops and tablets at the same time. This was meant to happen at some point and it looks like 2016 is the year of change.
In a statement, the Research Director of Tablets at IDC said, “Beyond the growing demand for detachable devices, we’re also witnessing an increase in competition within this segment that will help drive design, innovation, and a decline in average prices. At the latest Mobile World Congress, we saw new entrants, like Alcatel and Huawei, coming from the mobile space and expanding their portfolio to address the demand for detachables. Everyone in the industry recognizes that traditional personal computers like desktops and notebooks will potentially be replaced by detachables in the coming years and this is why we will see a lot of new products being introduced this year.”
Having used a detachable tablet before, I would say that it makes more sense to own than a tablet and you sort of kill two birds with one stone as you use them as tablets and laptops eliminating the need of owning two devices. Two in one devices can be used for both productivity purposes and for entertainment.
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Ryan Reith, Program Director with IDC concluded by saying, “This momentous shift in form factor will bring along the first significant impact of Windows-based devices that the tablet market has seen,” “Windows 10 seems to be making headway in both the PC and tablet markets, mainly driven by devices with larger screen sizes. Despite the free licensing on products under 9 inches the growth for Windows-based tablets will be primarily on devices with displays between 9 and 13 inches. Until we see a day where touch is introduced for Mac OS X and inroads are paved to bring Android and Chrome more closely aligned, we believe Windows remains the logical choice for detachable products.”
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