IDC 1Q16 tablets : 2-in-1 PCs grow as tablets decline
According to IDC’s worldwide quarterly tablet tracker, tablet PCs have registered 14.1% decline in shipments but detachable form factor PCs (like Microsoft Surface Pro) have registered triple digit year over year growth. A total of 39.6 million tablets (14.7% decline) were shipped out of which 4.9 million units were 2-in-1s, taking 12.4% of share. This decline in sales would’ve been more if 2-in-1 PCs never existed.
| Top Five Tablet Vendors, Shipments, Market Share, and Growth, First Quarter 2016
(Preliminary Results, Shipments in millions) |
|||||
| Vendor | 1Q16 Unit Shipments | 1Q16 Market Share | 1Q15 Unit Shipments | 1Q15 Market Share | Year-Over-Year Growth |
| 1. Apple | 10.3 | 25.9% | 12.6 | 27.2% | -18.8% |
| 2. Samsung | 6.0 | 15.2% | 8.3 | 18.0% | -28.1% |
| 3. Amazon.com | 2.2 | 5.7% | 0.0 | 0.1% | 5421.7% |
| 4. Lenovo | 2.2 | 5.5% | 2.5 | 5.4% | -13.8% |
| 5. Huawei | 2.1 | 5.2% | 1.1 | 2.4% | 82.2% |
| Others | 16.9 | 42.6% | 21.8 | 46.9% | -22.5% |
| Total | 39.6 | 100.0% | 46.4 | 100.0% | -14.7% |
| Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, April 28, 2016 | |||||
Apple’s iPad sales continued to decline, shipping just over 10 million units. Samsung too followed suite but the decline for Samsung was much higher as the Koren giant could only ship 6 million units. Lenovo’s shipments too fell slightly, to 2.2 million units. This tiny fall was enough for Amazon to grab the third spot as the e-commerce giant shipped 2.2 million units. Huawei too made solid ground as they shipped 2.1 million units. After seeing a solid growth in smart phone sales for Huawei, we can expect similar growth in tablet sales too. We will not be surprised to see Huawei leap frog to third position and if momentum allows, they may take #2 from Samsung.
“Microsoft arguably created the market for detachable tablets with the launch of their Surface line of products,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. “With the PC industry in decline, the detachable market stands to benefit as consumers and enterprises seek to replace their aging PCs with detachables. Apple’s recent foray into this segment has garnered them an impressive lead in the short term, although continued long-term success may prove challenging as a higher entry price point staves off consumers and iOS has yet to prove its enterprise-readiness, leaving plenty of room for Microsoft and their hardware partners to reestablish themselves.”
“The introduction of detachables from traditional smartphone vendors is only beginning and pose a real threat to traditional PC manufacturers,” said Jean Philippe Bouchard, Research Director, Tablets at IDC. “Their understanding of the mobile ecosystem and the volume achieved on their smartphone product lines will allow them to aggressively compete for this new computing segment. It is likely that those smartphone vendors will utilize the detachable segment to create new mobile computing end-user experiences if customers are using their detachables in combination with their smartphones.”
2016 will be a defining year for the PC industry as we will see the new Windows 10 running Intel powered convertible 2-in-1 computers make steady in roads. When compared to the time when the first iPad came out, buyers have matured a lot and are able to differentiate between a proper PC and a tablet. The slide in sales for tablets attributes to the fact that users do not change tablets as often as they change smart phones and that more and more are now interested in hybrid form factor PCs.
