Tablet PC shipments to fall marginally this year: IDC

Hit by softness in consumer demand, the tablet PC shipments are likely to be "marginally" lower in 2016 compared to 3.81 million units shipped last year.
"The tablet market is seeing a decline in consumer demand, and although the commercial and detachable segments are seeing growth, that is not enough to offset the softness in the consumer space," Karthik J, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India told PTI.
The tablet shipments stood at 3.81 million unit in 2015, and the decline in 2016 could be in "single digits", Karthik said but did not elaborate.
Moreover, the fourth quarter tablet shipments are expected to climb off festive season highs seen between July and September, according to IDC.

"Tablet shipments are expected to drop sequentially in Q4 2016 coming off from Q3 spike for festive season...2016 total tablet shipments is likely to decline marginally over 2015," Navkendar Singh, Senior Research Manager at IDC India, said in a statement.
"Detachables are expected to continue with healthy shipments in the last quarter of this year to account for little over five per cent of total tablet shipments in 2016 against 2.7 percent last year," Singh said.

According to IDC, the shipment of tablets in India including slate and detachables clocked 1.06 million units in third quarter of calendar year 2016, remaining stagnant over the same period last year, but logging a near 8 per cent growth when compared to the three months ended June 2016.

"...Total tablet shipments grew 7.8 per cent in Q3 2016 over Q2 2016 as vendors prepared the channel to cater to the consumer demand for upcoming festive month," IDC said.
Commercial segment continues to grow at a healthy pace accounting to over one-fifth of total tablet shipments in Q3 of calendar year 2016, with key contributors being education, government and large enterprise segments, Karthik said.
"Commercial segment also contributed to majority of detachable shipments in Q3 2016 driving the product category's volume to almost double over previous quarter," he said.
4G tablet shipments saw a steady uptake in India, up by 55 per cent, in third quarter of 2016 over previous quarter, IDC said but did not provide the unit shipments in this category.

"4G tablets account for almost one-fourth of total tablet shipments in CY Q3 2016 relative to 15.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Samsung dominates the 4G tablets category this quarter with its newly launched J max," Karthik said.
Giving the vendor break-up for Q3, IDC said that Datawind continues to lead Indian tablet market with 26.1 per cent share, followed by Samsung (17.3 per cent share) and iBall in the third place (13.6 per cent).
Lenovo had a marketshare of 12 per cent, followed by Micromax (10.1 per cent). The smaller players constituted the balance 20.9 per cent of the tablet market.