There were 18.3 million connected tablets in the USA at the end of 2014, says The NPD Group – up 90% YoY. More than 8.7 million new customers joined cellular tablet contracts last year, due to aggressive promotions, carrier subsidies and simplified service plans.
NPD expects this growth to slow in the coming years, however. Tablet activation growth will slow to around 30% this year and 10% in 2016. Phablets will be a significant factor in this change, as 5″+ smartphones will cannibalise tablet sales.
Brad Akyuz of NPD said, “The new growth opportunities for the carriers will be in the wearables space, as cellular embedded wearable devices are poised to be widely available by the end of 2016”.
