Tablet woes continue; worldwide shipments continue to fall in Q2 2016: Report

Over the years, we’ve seen worldwide tablet sales slide down the slippery slope. IDC’s latest quarterly report tracking tablet sales is no different. The sale of tablets continues to fall year-on-year even in Q2 2016. According to IDC, tablet shipments have fallen by 12.3 percent year-on-year, accounting to 38.7 million total shipments when compared to 44.1 million seen in Q2 2015. Top of the list are companies such as Apple and Samsung, but both have suffered decline in shipments by 9.2 percent and 24.5 percent, respectively.

Lenovo and Huawei follow next in the list. Lenovo’s tablets like Yoga Tab pro 3 with built-in projector has helped the company differentiate from others, while Huawei Matebook had a rocky start. However, the report points out, Amazon has performed well in the quarter with its Fire tablets. There have been **consistent reports** about failing tablet market shipments. There are various reasons for the fall including sluggish device upgrades by consumers. The upgrade cycle of tablets isn’t as we’ve seen in case of smartphones. Consumers are believed to be holding on to their old tablets with old configurations in the fast-paced consumer electronic market and even if the consumer buys a new tablet, the old one is passed on to another member in the family. The increasing demand for phablets is also said to be cannibalising tablet sales, and so is the shift towards hybrids.