A close look at why the tablet market isn't coming back

The tablet market has hit a wall. Shipments contracted for the second consecutive quarter at the start of 2015, declining by 6% year-over-year (YoY).

On an annual basis, the tablet market has fallen off dramatically.

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As recently as 2011, annual global tablet shipments growth surged 305%.

But by 2014, total tablet shipments growth had slowed to just 8%.

In a new report from BI Intelligence on the tablet market, we have revised down our tablet shipments projections for what was once the fastest-growing consumer electronics category, after sustained contraction in the tablet market over the past two quarters.

Don't be left in the dark: Stay ahead of the curve and access our full report to get everything you need to know about tablet market trends. All in an easy to understand format with helpful graphs. Get the report now >>

Here are some key points from the report:

• We estimate very modest annual growth over the next five years, driven by enterprise uptake and low-cost device sales. We expect global tablet shipments to grow at a slow 2.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2015 and 2020, reaching just 281 million units shipped at the end of the forecast period.
• The marquee tablet - the iPad - has seen shipments decline for five consecutive quarters. In the first quarter, iPad shipments declined 23% YoY, the product's worst quarterly decline ever.
• Meanwhile, the market is being overrun by generic, low-cost devices. These white-box tablets now make up 43% of all tablet shipments, up from a 25% share just a year ago. Apple and Samsung have ceded a combined 10 percentage points of market share over the last year.
• The enterprise serves as the tablet's last-chance market, but it won't completely reverse the outlook for the device. Tablets will make up just 4% of total enterprise device activations by 2018, even after growing faster than all other enterprise device segments.
• Even in the US, a more tablet-friendly market, tablet penetration in the enterprise is minimal. Just 18% of companies claim they already have tablets in use, though another 50% say they have plans to deploy tablets this year.

This is just a small piece of our comprehensive 17-page report. Become an expert on the topic by accessing the full report now »