International Data Corporation has released it’s latest projections of tablet sales, OS market shares, and tablet screen size. From their press release-”worldwide tablet shipments are expected to reach 221.3 million units in 2013, down slightly from a previous forecast of 227.4 million but still 53.5% above 2012 levels. Shipment growth is forecast to slow to 22.2% year over year in 2014 to a total of 270.5 million units. By 2017, annual market growth will slow to single-digit percentages and shipments will peak at 386.3 million units, down from the previous forecast of 407 million units.” So it seems that eventually the market will begin to become saturated, and the massive growth in tablet sales will slow. Another factor is the rise of large cellphones, which allow users to have one device be both a phone and a small tablet, or phablet.
The forecasts for OS market share show android maintaining it’s dominating numbers over the next several years. While 2013 is predicted to have android with a 60.8% share, it drops slightly to 58.8% by 2017. Apple’s iOS goes from 35% in 2013 to 30.6% in 2017, a much greater percentage drop. And Microsoft looks to move up from 3.4% in 2013 to 10.2% by 2017. If Microsoft can indeed move close to the forecasted numbers, it will go from having 1/10 of Apple’s market share, to 1/3. That would be quite a change, considering in 2012 Apple had 45.6% market share, and Microsoft only 0.9%.