Tablet Shipments Continue to Slip, iPad Remains Dominant

By Kamal Nayan - 30 Apr '15 15:29PM

The first quarter of 2015 was not encouraging for tablet market, according to new data released by IDC. However, Apple remained the king of the tablet market.

Tablet and 2-in-1 device shipments fell to 47.1 million, a 5.9 percent drop from the same quarter a year ago, the research firm said Thursday. The decline follows the tablet market's first year-over-year decline in shipments in the fourth quarter of 2014.

"The market slowdown that we witnessed last quarter is continuing to impact the tablet segment," IDC Tablet Research Director Jean Philippe Bouchard said in a statement.

Of those tablets sold, cellular models were found to be the most popular, outpacing the market.

"In addition to driving higher usage than Wi-Fi-only tablets, cellular-enabled tablets also help position the segment as true mobile solutions rather than stay-at-home devices," Bouchard added.

iPad lineup took 27 percent of the tablet market from January to March according to IDC.

Samsung was second with 19 percent. No other single supplier exceeded 5 percent.

Convertible devices, like Microsoft's Surface line also had a strong showing.