Detachables Will Change Tablet Market

IDC has forecast that worldwide tablet shipments will fall to 195 million units this year: a 5.9% fall from 2015. Positive growth, albeit single-digit, will resume in 2017, largely thanks to demand for detachable units. IDC expects this sub-category to grow from 16.6 million shipments in 2015 to 63.8 million in 2020.

Demand is rising for detachables, but competition is also growing. New companies entered the space at MWC last month, such as Huawei and Alcatel. This helps to drive innovation and lower prices.

Changing from the conventional slate form factor to a detachable one will, IDC expects, bring two more changes to the tablet industry. First is the move to larger (9″+) screens, at the expense of smaller models. Second, Windows-based products will take share from other platforms – most notably Android.

Ryan Reith, IDC program director, said, “This momentous shift in form factor will bring along the first significant impact of Windows-based devices that the tablet market has seen… Windows 10 seems to be making headway in both the PC and tablet markets, mainly driven by devices with larger screen sizes. Despite the free licensing on products under 9″, the growth for Windows-based tablets will be primarily on devices with displays between 9″ and 13″. Until we see a day where touch is introduced for Mac OS X and inroads are paved to bring Android and Chrome more closely aligned, we believe Windows remains the logical choice for detachable products.”