Why Is The Demand For Tablets Declining?

By Maurice L. Bays
28 May 2019

Tablets are one of those devices that most households seem to have a couple of. A prime example of this is last Christmas. We had some family over and we wanted to play this interactive quiz game and we were able to pull out three spare tablets!

Tablets, for the most part, are dirt cheap and while an Apple iPad or a top of the line Samsung or Huawei tablet may not be cheap. The fact is companies like Amazon and even some of the lower end Samsung ones can be had for under 50 bucks, sometimes as low as 20! So, it is clear to see why so many people have tablets.

The thing is while at the start of the year interest was rather high in tablets thanks to the newest model of the iPad. Samsung has actually seen interest in their tablets slide. Huawei has actually overtaken them and is number 2 when it comes to tablets shipped and sold right now.

I read a great piece over at Digitimes that predicted this slide will continue as much as 8.7 percent year on year! That is pretty crazy when you think about how the last 2 to 5 holiday seasons have seen a ton of tablets be sold. Amazon especially has had a lot of success with its low-priced Kindle range of tablets.

Many other companies have jumped on board and produced tablets in the 50 to 100 bucks’ range. That bubble though appears to have come to an end. While it looks like there will always be some buzz when it comes to a new model of the iPad. Samsung (who’s last high-end tablet was not the best) and Huawei look like they will have to do something very, very special in order to keep up.

Apple has nailed it with their iPad series. While they are not exactly what you would call “affordable” for the most part Apple has done a great job of improving each model of iPad. So much so that it does make you wonder where they can go next?

So, what has caused this decline? Well, it appears that the day of the smaller, 7-inch scale tablet is over. The tablets that are popular right now are the ones that are around 10 inches inside. A larger screen appears to be what people desire when it comes to a tablet and this actually makes great sense.

Phone screens are not just getting better and better in terms of the quality they provide such as Sony’s 4K phone screen. They are also getting larger. The jump from your Samsung or Huawei smartphone to a 7-inch tablet is not that great, especially not enough to make you want to get up out of your seat, go to a different room and get your tablet.

It is not so much that people do not care about having a tablet. It is more that smartphone screens have evolved to a point where most people are happy to just watch movies, YouTube and even game on their phone rather than play around with two different devices.

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Why Is The Demand For Tablets Declining?

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Tablets are one of those devices that most households seem to have a couple of. A prime example of this is last Christmas. We had some family over and we wanted to play this interactive...

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Maurice L. Bays

Lead Analyst Cameras

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