After big 2014 decline, India tablet sales rise 8% in 2015

Tablet sales in India grew over 8 per cent to touch 3.8 million units in 2015, recovering from a sharp dip seen in 2014, research firm IDC said on Thursday. However, during the fourth quarter ended December 2015, tablet shipment declined by over 10 per cent to 0.86 million units over the same period last year (0.96 million).

Shipments dipped 18.7 per cent as compared to July-September 2015 quarter, IDC said in a report. IDC expects calendar year 2016, to witness a marginal growth as consumer demand for tablets hits saturation. However, commercial segment is expected to witness healthy double digit growth this year. “With each of the previous two quarters clocking over a million units of shipments, total tablet market for 2015 managed to post a growth of 8.2 per cent at 3.8 million units, recovering from a sharp dip in 2014,” it added. The report said detachables began to ramp up gradually in 2015, especially second quarter onwards. Detachable shipments spiked sharply, although it was in comparison to smaller volumes in 2014. In 2015, Q4 was also the first quarter to have detachables from all three major OS platforms, IDC said. “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 2016 Q1,” IDC India Senior Market Analyst Karthik J said. Detachable tablet category is anticipated to ramp further in 2016 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,” Karthik said. Datawind pipped Samsung and Micromax to rank numero uno in the tally with 20.7 per cent share of the Indian tablet market at the end of December 2015. Samsung had a 15.8 per cent share, followed by Micromax (15.5 per cent), Lenovo (13.8 per cent) and iBall (10 per cent).