While the global tablet market will see a relative slow down in 2014 and reach 256 million units, tablets sales numbers are projected to increase 23.9 percent from 2013, according to research firm Gartner. Gartner’s report foresees that worldwide tablet shipments will reach 320 million units in 2015 and with this, they will finally overtake the number of PCs shipped worldwide.
The slow down of the global tablet penetration might be caused by changing consumer needs. First, there is a lower demand from users for tablets with smaller screens, some in favor of larger screens, in mature markets. Second, the shift towards phablets is slowing worldwide tablet sales. Phablets are mobile devices with a screen size in between the size of a smartphone and a tablet. Moreover, there will be more different and less costly tablets on the market, which makes it possible for more people to buy a tablet. Research director at Gartner, Ranjit Atwal explains: “The next wave of adoption will be driven by lower price points rather than superior functionality.”
9 out of 10 mobile phones will be a smartphone in 2018
Sales numbers of mobile phones are expected to increase up to 1.9 billion units in 2014, a 3.1 percent increase from 2013. Global shipments will continue to increase in 2015. Overall, Gartner predicts that smartphone sales will represent 88 percent of global mobile phone sales by 2018 – up from 66 percent in 2014. Of course, these numbers will be different per country..
Android climbs 30 percent in 2014
Gartner’s report shows that Android and iOS are driving the growth with a 30 percent and 15 percent increase of worldwide shipments. About Windows, Ranjit Atwal said as follows: “Windows phones will exhibit strong growth from a low base in 2014, and are projected to reach a 10 percent market share by 2018 – up from 4 percent in 2014.”
To conclude, the venue of less expensive mobile devices will enable the mobile market to be more competitive and appealing to a wider audience. However, at imgZine we expect Android-based devices to continue to grow and gain a bigger market share than Windows. As Strategy Analytics explains: there might be a new batch of 8-inch Windows based tablets with reduced prices, but shortage of apps continues to be a problem for Windows.
