Growth in the sales of tablets worldwide will remain sluggish this year as longer lifespans and lack of hardware innovation extends replacement cycles, Gartner predicted this week.
Global tablet sales will reach 233 million units in 2015, up by just 8% on last year, the analyst firm estimates. However, it sees an uptick in 2016, when the market will grow by 11% to 259 million units.
"The collapse of the tablet market in 2014 was alarming," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, in a statement. "In the last two years global sales of tablets were growing in double-digits."
He explained that the lifetime of tablets is being extended as a result of software upgrades and by devices being passed on to family members. In addition, the lack of innovation on the hardware side means people have little inclination to upgrade, he said.
Gartner expects to see tablet makers forge partnerships that will enable them to create a better experience for customers, launching personalised and tailored apps, and evolving their role from pure hardware provider to "in-sync with the user," Atwal said.
The relationship between vendor and consumer will evolve along with the use of the cloud, which will enable services and advertising to be more targeted, he added.
