Tablet PC shipments decline 11 per cent in Q2 2017

NEW DELHI: In India, 0.68 million tablet PCs were shipped in the second quarter of 2017, registering a decline of 11% compared with the previous quarter, Cybermedia Research (CMR) India said on Wednesday. The market witnessed a drop of 29% year-on-year for the quarter. Datawind maintained a lead during the quarter with 27% market share followed by iBall with 16%, and Lenovo and Samsung with 14% each.

The report said that 4G, 2G & Wi-Fi-based tablets saw an increase of 8%, 17% & 21%, respectively, in the quarter whereas 3G-based tablets declined 19% in the second quarter against the previous quarter in terms of shipments.

Also, tablets with 2GB RAM and 16GB embedded memory increased 52% and 15% yearon-year in the second quarter. 5 megapixel primary camera tablets saw a growth of 61% year-on-year whereas 2 megapixel secondary camera tablets grew by 63% year-on-year. The technology trends suggested that Android continued to remain the preferred OS choice with 90% market share.

The report said that smartphones have eroded the tablet market as such phones are the primary devices with big screens, high mega pixel camera, among other features. “Just like the smartphone market is moving towards 4G, we can see the same trend in the tablet market. The demand for SIM-enabled devices will continue to grow, while WiFienabled devices will continue to see demand from the student community,” said Menka Kumari, analyst, CMR India.