Tablet market shrinks by a third to 22 players in 2016

The touch screen portable tablet personal computer manufacturers have exited the market in large numbers as a CyberMedia Research paper pointed out that there were only 22 players left in 2016.

In comparison, the previous year of 2015 had 66 players in the market which brings the decline to nearly a third of the total market.

“In the Calendar Year (CY) 2016 3.5 million tablet PCs were sold (shipped) in India, registering a decline of about 18% over CY2015,” according to CMR’s India annual Tablet PC Market Review.

The top players in the tablet PC business remained – Datawind, Samsung, Pantel and Micromax in 2016 with 34%, 18%, 12% and 10% market share respectively, the report pointed out.

Commenting on the tablet market, Menka Kumari, analyst at CMR said,“Unless the tablet industry comes out as a gateway for a particular solution, the turnaround would be difficult for the market. While smartphones are taking care of the masses, the tablets industry should cater to particular segments and customized their specs accordingly.”               

With the rise of the smartphone era, tablets have found less and less use in the hands of a common man as the affordability of mobiles is met.

Smartphone penetration in India was poised at 29.8% by Statista and will grow up to 39% in 2019 by its estimates.

Image Source: Statista

“As the price band shifts from Rs 5-Rs 10,000 to sub Rs 5,000 levels, the Indian tablet manufacturers will see this as an opportunity with a line of sub 5,000 products,” the report added

The CMR report said that even the tablet market will start moving toward consolidation phase and 2017 would see a ‘shrinkage of just six to seven main players remaining in the list,’ adding that, “We have seen about 40 players exiting the market in the past 3-4 years.”

The telecom sector has three major consolidations brewing between Aircel and Reliance Communications, Vodafone and Idea, and Airtel and Telenor.

Industry experts said that the end result would leave the sector with just three or four major players including new entrant – Reliance Jio.

“Iris-enabled and biometric tablets will see a bigger uptake in CY 2017. Datawind will continue to enjoy number one position on the back of its expansion spree. The company is entering into strategic tie-ups with mom-and-pop stores to expand its reach. Overall, the market will see traction towards institutional and government sales,” Kumari added.

Commenting about the outlook of the sector Kumari said, “The tablet market will emulate the strategy of mobile market, with data bundling turning out be aggressive this year. This will be an exciting factor for the overall tablets market, leading to improved sales.”