A set of challenges and realities are now confirmed: the saturation of the tablet market, the long life cycles of tablets and the abundance of substitute devices are among key factors that threaten the Tablet market. Many large and small devices and 2-in-1 PCs are also challenging the market.
In this environment, Apple’s market
share continues to fall and Samsung struggles to maintain its previous momentum.
According to TrendForce, a total of 168.5 million
units of tablets were shipped last year, representing a 12.2% drop from 2014.
Apple retained its title of top tablet brand worldwide
in 2015, but iPad shipments fell by as much as 22% year on year, from 63.4
million units in 2014 to 49.6 million in 2015.
Samsung as No. 2 saw its tablet shipments fell 18%
annually to 33.5 million units; its market share fell by just 1.5% over the
year to 19.9%.
Lenovo expanded its presence in Europe and remained as
the No. 3 tablet vendor worldwide in 2015.
Amazon with its new 7-inch Fire tablet; low price of
US$49.99 over 3.5 million units supplied ranked No. 4 brand in the 2015
shipment ranking.
ASUS posted a massive shipment drop of 34% year on
year and fell down a spot in the ranking to No. 5.
Microsoft with its latest 12.3-inch Surface Pro 4, along
with older Surface models paves its way and
manage to grow its tablet shipments.