Tablet sales slow down

Demand for tablets will continue to be slow in 2015, with sales reaching 233 million units for the year, or only an 8 percent increase from 2014, research firm Gartner said.

Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said global sales have been growing in double digits prior to 2014.

“The steep drop can be explained by several factors. One is that the lifetime of tablets is being extended – they are shared out among family members and software upgrades, especially for iOS devices, keep the tablets current. Another factor includes the lack of innovation in hardware, which refrains consumers from upgrading,” he said.

The Tablets category includes devices such as, iPad, iPad Mini, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, Nexus 7 and Acer Iconia Tab 8. Other Hybrids/Clamshells include devices such as HP Pavilion 11, Lenovo Yoga 2 11 and Dell Inspiron 13.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, Gartner analysts expect the vendors in the devices space to announce new partnerships that lead to innovative apps that use personal data to tailor the user experience.

Meanwhile, the mobile phone segment is on pace to grow 3.7 percent in 2015 and reach two billion units in 2016.

In the operating system (OS) market, Android surpassed a billion shipments of devices in 2014, and will continue to grow at a double-digit pace in 2015, with a 26 percent increase year over year.