From popular to unpopular, a review of the history of tablet computers

On April 3, 2010, Apple released the first generation of iPad, which marked the beginning of the modern tablet computer. Following Apple's footsteps, major manufacturers rushed to launch their own tablet computers based on the Android platform.

But the glory of tablet computers did not last long. Now the number of new tablets and sales are decreasing. So how did modern tablet computers develop? Why did they decline? This article will answer them one by one.

2010 to 2013: Explosive growth

The popularity of mobile phones such as the iPhone has made people familiar with and accept touch screens. The launch of the iPad at this time has ignited people's desire for large touch screens.

According to Gartner data, tablet computer sales in 2010 were 17.6 million units; in 2011, sales were 60 million units, an increase of 240.9% over the previous year; in 2012, sales were 116.3 million units, an increase of 93.8% over the previous year; and in 2013, sales were 195.4 million units, an increase of 68% over the previous year.

From the data, we can see that within a year after the iPad was launched in 2010, the emerging market of modern tablet computers exploded. The sales growth in 2011 was particularly terrifying. During this period, in addition to Apple, manufacturers such as Samsung, Google, Sony, HTC, Motorola, Dell and Asus also launched tablet computers.

2014: Growth slowed down significantly

According to IDC data, tablet computer sales in 2014 were 230.1 million units, a figure that was only 10.5% higher than in 2013. This growth rate was only 1/13 of the average growth rate in the previous three years, and a downward trend was beginning to emerge.

2015 to 2017: Continued negative growth

Tablet sales began to show negative growth in 2015. According to IDC data, tablet sales in 2015 were 206.8 million units, down 10.1% from the previous year; in 2016, sales were 174.8 million units, down 15.6% from the previous year. Negative growth continued in 2017, with sales lagging behind the already not optimistic 2016.

Reasons for the decline

In the seven-year lifespan of the modern tablet, the last three years have been spent in declining sales. So what exactly made consumers abandon the once-popular tablet?

Tablets take over the market

The Samsung Galaxy Note series released in September 2011 ushered in the era of "phablets". Phablets refer to large-screen phones. Compared with 5 to 6+ inch phones, the advantage of tablets with large screens is no longer obvious. More and more consumers are giving up tablets and choosing large-screen phones.

This situation worsened after the launch of iPhone 6/6 Plus in September 2014. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus use 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays respectively. Apple's previous largest mobile phone display was only 4 inches. Apple's transformation officially marks the arrival of the era of large-screen mobile phones for all.

The number and quality of new tablets have declined

Perhaps they realized the shift in market focus, and in 2014, the number of new tablets began to decrease. Tablets with flagship hardware also became less and less. Many manufacturers even only used the most advanced hardware for their mobile phones, making the configuration of flagship tablets lag behind that of smartphones of the same period. Most new tablets at this time were mid-range and low-end products.

Laptops are becoming tablets

After the emergence of large-screen mobile phones, the original tablet computer users turned to large-screen mobile phones, because the things that tablet computers can do can also be done by large-screen mobile phones.

As a result, the only users who need tablets are business people and students. What they need is a portable productivity tool. iOS and Android are not as productive as Windows. So "tablet-like" Windows computers have developed, such as the Surface Pro series.

The Surface Pro series is a hybrid device launched by Microsoft that is equipped with Windows system and laptop-level hardware. The device combines the productivity of traditional Windows computers with the portability of tablet computers. This sounds difficult to achieve, but Microsoft has done it after 3 years and 4 generations of products.

The first generation of Surface Pro was released in February 2013, and the mature Surface Pro 4 was released in October 2015. This period was also the decline of "entertainment" tablets. In addition to Microsoft, brands such as Acer and VAIO also launched similar products, continuing to erode the market of traditional tablets.

Apple's subsequent launch of the iPad Pro further confirmed the trend that consumers are increasingly focusing on tablet productivity. However, its high price and inherent disadvantages in iOS system productivity have prevented it from shaking the position of the Surface Pro series.

Conclusion

Large-screen mobile phones can meet people's needs for multimedia entertainment, and highly portable two-in-one notebooks can meet the productivity needs of business people/students.

Coupled with the upcoming Chrome OS tablets, there are fewer and fewer reasons to need Android and iOS tablets. So the decline of traditional tablets will continue unless a breakthrough product emerges.