Tablets have been the rage in the country for a while now seeing the fact that they are touching lower price points. However, the rage for them seems to be slipping as the latest IDC Report has stated that the tablet shipment in the country declined by 32.8 percent in the Q1 2014 when compared to the same period last year. The total number of tablets shipped stood at 0.78 million/7,80,000 for the Q1 2014.
Samsung emerged as the number 1 tablet manufacturer with a share of 47.5 percent of the market. Apple reached the number 2 position with a 14.4 percent share ahead of Micromax which managed a mere 8.8 percent share of the tablet market. Micromax has been the number 2 manufacturer after Samsung for a while but it has witnessed a drop courtesy of lack of new launches in the tablet arena. Datawind managed 6.8 percent of the share courtesy of the support from the government and its tablets being made available to the masses.
The decline is being witnessed because of the fact that the phablets are seeing a rise in their popularity and they tend to make entry level tablets seem pretty redundant. The trend is expected to continue further in future too.
“Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) compliance is certainly hurting the white-box market. International device vendors like Apple and Samsung grew in comparison against Q4 2013, posting significant double-digit growth rates in Q1. However at an overall level, the branded vendors were unable to capitalize on the space left vacant by the erosion from white-box and smaller vendors,” Karan Thakkar, Senior Market Analyst of Tablets, Enterprise Client Devices and PC Monitors at IDC India, said.
