The title is a shocking one to read but it is very much the truth. When the tablet market was introduced back in April 2010 with the very first iPad, sales boomed. Year on year, sales kept on increasing as more competitors entered the market to compete with the iterations of the iPad. However, we now found ourselves six years later and, to be honest, times have changed. The tablet market is not what it first seemed back in 2010 and sales have slowly declined over the years. What are the main reasons for this. Why does it seem that tablet sales are dying out?

Repeated Buys are Not Happening

The main problem with the tablet market is that once a consumer has bought a tablet, they are unlikely to buy another one for years, unlike the smartphone that is usually updated 1-2 years by consumers. This is because, just like a laptop, tablets are functional and don’t really need updating, unless you want the most up to date software and performance that comes with it.

I have a few examples of this. A lot of my family has iPads and by iPads, I mean the second generation iPad which came out in 2011. It’s 2016 and they all still use their second generation iPads because the reason for purchasing the tablet was for tasks that would be more comfortable on a touch screen: Facebook and web browsing. Why would you need to update a tablet if you are doing trivial tasks on it such as web browsing? Unless tablets performance increases to that of a laptop so that we can do ‘proper’ computing on them, it will be a long time until tablets are bought on a yearly basis.

Smartphones are Getting Bigger

The differences between smartphones nowadays and tablets is getting thinner and thinner year on year. There are many reasons for this:

• The processors used in tablets are commonly used in smartphones. Therefore, smartphones have equal processing power and the same speed as a tablet.
• The size of screens of smartphones have increased and is looking to continually increase as the design of smartphones results in small bezels. A good example of this is phablets with 5-6″ screens (to some, that is comparable to 7″ tablets).
• Smartphones can now do everything that a tablet can do, in a more portable fashion.

The last point is particularly important. One of the main reasons tablets are not being bought as often is because a smartphone can do everything a tablet can do – the best bit about a smartphone is that it can fit in your pocket too.

To best explain this, I think an example is needed. Let’s say you were sitting on the sofa watching TV and you wanted to browse eBay or the internet for something to buy. You could go upstairs and get your iPad to do this task or use your iPhone 6 Plus which is in your pocket because, well, it’s your smartphone. I am pretty sure most of you reading this would turn to the iPhone 6 Plus, like me!