We’ve known it anecdotally for some time, but a new report released today by Australian analysis firm Telsyte confirms that Android tablet sales are declining.
Overall, Tablet sales in Australia did grow, though it was only a growth of 1%, with a total of 1.65 million tablets sold in Australia during the second half of 2017.
The report shows that 46% of tablet devices sold during the period ran iOS with sales of iPads up by 6% year over year. Telsyte attributes this to the drive for replacement units and the new budget friendly 9.7-inch iPad. Telsyte also
points towards Apple pushing the iPad Pro as a PC replacement.
PC based tablets such as the 2-in-1 tablets running Windows saw growth accounting for 29% of the total market, with Windows 2-in-1 tablet sales increasing by 13% in H2 2017 over the same half in 2016.
The big loser in all this is of course Android tablets, which saw sales fall by 16% in the second half of 2017 to just 24% of the market compared to the same time period in 2016. Telsyte found that Samsung and Lenovo tablets are the largest Android tablet vendors in Australia, with other manufacturers preferring to offer Windows devices.
Telsyte believes that the next big thing in tablets will be eSIM which could rejuvanate tablet sales. Telsyte analyst Alvin Lee said
The early success of eSIM in wearables such as the Apple Watch 3 LTE can potentially extend to tablets, with simplified and more user-friendly setup for mobile connectivity.
Currently there are signs that the growth of tablets sales is peaking, with Telsyte seeing growth of tablet sales only growing by 200,000 people in 2017 over 2016, with more than 15 million Australians having access to a tablet at the end of 2017.
Telsyte does see potential growth in education and enterprise for tablet sales over the next 1-2 years.
As far as Android tablets sales goes we’ve acknowledged previously that they’re not the best option for productivity or even general use. The launch yesterday of the first Chrome OS tablets could be a start of something big for Google. The mixture of a full Chrome browser mixed with the benefit of Android apps could be a winning bet for Google. The only drawback being we have seen nothing about a local launch of the Acer tablet here.
We’ll see what happens over the next year.
I’m pretty much just echoing what has already been said in the comments. Give us a tablet with the latest specs and keep the software updated, at least quarterly! Then we might see a turn around.
But while Google sits on their hands, the other powerhouse, Samsung, just puts out Tabs with nice displays, yesteryear’s processors and gives us the middle finger when it comes to updates.
The second paragraph is incomplete?
I went looking for an Android tablet recently and there was nothing with decent available. I ended up sticking with my Nexus 9 and putting up with all its issues.
I missed my Nexus 7. That was such a perfect tablet.
Bring on the ChromeOS tablets!
The first to put out an Android one tablet with at least a SD660, good screen etc for under $600 will be rewarded with sales.
$200
The Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet is regularly US$99-120, for a 10″ tablet, fullHD screen, and a CPU on a par with the 810. If they can do it, so can others.
The problem is the tech companies are thinking 100% profit, devices, and no ecosystem benefits – which is dumb.
Stuff Android tablets, gimmie the Acer Chromebook Tab 10!
Samsung tablets are too pricey and bloated for me. Bought a Lenovo Yoga Tab3 8″ tablet a few years back and still love it. It got the Android 6.01 update and even a security update last November. With it’s fold-out stand I have it sitting in the main area of the house acting as a media/Google Home control.
Pro: Great battery life.
Con: Slow as all buggery.
I agree Jesse. I have a Sony Xperia Z3 Compact tablet and still love it even though it will never get any more updates. I hope the rumour of new Sony tablets is true.
I have an Huawei MediaPad M2 8.0 and it is great hardware with a 4G sim slot. It works well and has a great screen and sound. BUT it is stuck on Android 6.0 and even then I had to seek out an image to download and flash. The official version for Australia is 5.1. The security patch level is so old it is a security risk. Will I buy a new Huawei MediaPad? Apart from the fact that no one sells them I will not buy another device that is just left behind for no reason. I want an… Read more »
BTW this is a $500 device not some $79 special from BigW
Maybe it has to do with the fact that Android tablets are displayed in the store over in the corner behind the shadow of the flashy Apple display. And that none of the tablets are particularly advanced or well specced except for maybe Samsung’s Tab3 which is overpriced to the hilt.
Because there aren’t any decent tablets out there!!!
Last android tablet i bought was an nvidia shield tablet in 2014. Wanted to get a new tablet for christmas only to find there are really no decent options at all other than samsung’s s2/s3 tablets.
This.
I haven’t seen a single Android tablet that has appealed to me that is locally available. As an Android phone user, I have an iPad as a tablet.
Thanks to Google apps on iOS it integrates pretty well in to the Android ecosystem.
Cheers