Indian tablet market declined 18.7% in Q4 of CY2015

The overall tablet market in India declined by 18.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of calender year (CY) 2015 over previous quarter. However, with each of the two previous quarters clocking over a million units of shipments, total tablet market for 2015 managed to post a growth of 8.2 percent at 3.8 million units, recovering from a sharp dip in 2014, said report from International Data Corporation (IDC).

The report said that 0.86 million units of tablets were shipped in 2015 Q4, down 10.1 percentage over the same period last year. Tablets for CY 2016 is expected to witness a marginal growth as consumer demand for tablets hits saturation. However, IDC expect commercial segment to witness healthy double digit growth this year.

"Detachable tablet category is anticipated to ramp further as vendors strive to capitalise on the growth momentum by offering products at affordable prices.

However, the migration from slate to detachable tablets in India would only be gradual," adds Karthik J, senior market analyst, IDC India.

Detachables began to ramp up gradually in 2015, especially Q2 2015 onwards. Detachable shipments spiked sharply although it was in comparison to smaller volumes in 2014. 2015 Q4 was also the first quarter to have detachables from all three major OS platforms.

"Majority of detachables shipped in CY 2015 were in $200-$300 price band, primarily driven by local vendors such as Micromax and iBall. On the premium end, Samsung currently dominates but competition is likely to get intense with Apple entering the market with iPad pro and Microsoft Surface Pro joining the league in quarter one of 2016" said, Karthik J.

Both Windows and Intel have gained share in 2015 mainly through local vendors in addition to Acer and Lenovo. Windows based tablet shipment more than tripled in 2015 over last year while Intel clocked a healthy 49.3 percentage annual growth.

Larger screen Slate tablets gaining share as 7-inch tablets continue to face pressure from Phablets (large screen smartphone), said IDC. 2015 shipment of 8"-9.9" screen tablet grew annually at 39.2 percentage accounting for 15.9 percentage of overall slate tablet volume.

Among vendors, Datawind's steady ramp in 2015 led them to the top spot in 2015 Q4 with 20.7 percentage vendor share. With continued focus on entry level i.e. sub $100 tablet segment, shipments almost doubled year-on-year in 2015 Q4. Cost benefits through local manufacturing, free internet bundled tablets, higher online presence in Q4 2015 were few key factors which worked in favour of the vendor.

Samsung took the second place in 2015 Q4 with 15.8 percentage share, as shipments dip by 8.7 percentage sequentially against 2015 Q3. Samsung is seen as the only vendor dominating in the premium end of the category with Android based detachables i.e. Galaxy Tab S2.

For Micromax, shipments dip sequentially by 24.1 percentage in 2015 Q4 with market share of 15.5 percentage. The vendor's shipments more than doubled over the same period last year in Q4. Micromax played a pivotal role in driving detachables' shipments in the year 2015 as it accounted for more than one-third of the category's overall volume, said IDC.

iBall, managed to stay in top 5 despite sharp sequential dip of 45.2 percentage in shipments in 2015 Q4. In the growing detachable category, iBall saw flattish performance throughout 2015 accounting for 12.5 percentage of shipments.