The long global decline in tablet sales is showing no let up, with the latest figures from the International Data Corporation (IDC) reporting tablet sales dropped 12.3 percent in the second quarter compared to same quarter of 2015.

Android tablets continued to dominate sales with 65 percent of the 38.7 million tablets sold in the quarter, followed by iOS at 26 percent. The remainder goes to Windows-powered tablets.

In a declining market Apple, Inc. increased its share as the top-selling maker of tablets shipping 10 million units for a 25.8 percent share despite selling 9.2 percent less tablets compared to Q2 2015, followed by Samsung Electronic Co. Ltd selling 6 million tablets for a 15.6 percent share, Lenovo Group Ltd with 2.5 million on a 6.6 percent share, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. with 2.2 million on a 5.6 percent share, and Amazon.com, Inc. with 1.6 million Kindle Fire’s being sold for a 4.4 percent share.

Showing how diverse the tablet market is, despite declining sales, “others” counted for 16.4 million tablets sold on a 42.4 percent market share.

Going forward IDC predicts that the battle will be between Windows and Android, as those buying tablets look for more productive form factors and operating systems, IDC claims.

“At present, it’s difficult for Android to compete with iOS or Windows detachable products,” IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement. “However, the next 12 to 18 months will be very interesting as Google launches the next version of Android with better multi-tasking support and as they begin to bring together their two operating systems.”

“While growth in the detachable category is undeniable, slates continue to represent the vast majority of the segment. Vendors like Amazon, with a very focused approach to positioning, price, and purpose, managed to capture a considerable share of the market. Slate sales are declining but they still serve a purpose and will do so for a long time to come,” IDC research director Jean Philippe Bouchard added.

Pro tablets

A shift to tablets acting as detachables and offering more enterprise functions seems to be the future of tablets as consumer growth and interest in them wane; consumers simply don’t need to update their tablets to surf the web or use apps on a yearly basis and this tells in continuing decline in global sales.

Enterprise tablets may yet be a niche but it’s a growing niche, as demonstrated in Apple’s recent financials which saw iPad revenue grow for the first time in years even though overall shipments decline all off the back of demand for the iPad Pro, an expensive product that is pitched primarily at high-end users.

The strength in the sales of Windows-powered tablets would also indicate a similar trend, and while Microsoft’s Surface range does not feature in the top five yet, it’s quite possible that this could change in the year ahead given the Windows platform will always have an appeal over Android and iOS based systems for serious power users.

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