According to IDC the 2014 global tablet market sees "massive deceleration" with growth slowing down to 7.2% (from 52.5% in 2013) as tablet lifecycles stretch further, becoming more like those of PCs than smartphones.
The analyst also says 2014 is the year where the iPad sees its first full year of shipment decline, making a reflection of the market as a whole.
"The tablet market continues to be impacted by a few major trends happening in relevant markets," IDC remarks. "In the early stages of the tablet market, device lifecycles were expected to resemble those of smartphones, with replacement occurring every 2-3 years. What has played out instead is that many tablet owners are holding onto their devices for more than 3 years and in some instances more than 4 years. We believe the two major drivers for longer than expected tablet lifecycles are legacy software support for older products, especially within iOS, and the increased use of smartphones for a variety of computing tasks."
The study shows 40% of Greek smartphone users damaging their devices during what are kindly described as "stumbling incidents" during the study period, while close behind 39.8% of Italian and 38.9% of Spanish users do the same. The least clumsy European country is Poland with an accident rate of only 24.3%, followed by Switzerland (26.3%).
"The wearables market is definitely one to watch, with our forecasts predicting sales of 52m units across all wearable categories this year, up 32% from 2013," the analyst says. "Q4 2014 is where we're going to see all the action, with annual sales heavily weighted towards the pre-Christmas period. We're expecting 39% of this year's activity to drop into Q4, as wearable tech provides an appealing gifting option for consumers."
