Tablet users to cross 1billion in 2015

Tablet users to cross 1billion in 2015, with nearly a third of them living in China, according to forecasts published by research firm eMarketer.

Copyright 2015 eMarketer Inc.

According to the company's forecast nearly 15% or one-seventh of the global population will use a tablet, but according to the forecasters the growth is expected to slow in the years ahead.
In fact, that slowdown is already underway: the number of tablet users grew by 54.1% in 2013 and 29.1% in 2014 according to eMarketer, which predicts that this will slow to 17.1% in 2015. While this figure is healthy, it pales in comparison with year-over-year gains of 54.1% in 2013 and 29.1% in 2014. By 2018, the growth rate for new tablet users worldwide will be just 7.9%.
Of the billion-plus tablet users in 2015, the company estimates that 328.3m will be in China, 156m in the US, 40.4m in India and 32.2m in the UK.
Here are four other key facts in each of the next four years in eMarketer’s forecast for tablet users worldwide:
    2015: Brazil will surpass the UK to become the fourth-largest market.
    2016: Indonesia will enter the top five, reaching nearly 38 million tablet users.
    2017: China will have more than 400 million tablet users.
    2018: Nearly 20% of the world population will use tablets regularly.

Copyright 2015 eMarketer Inc.

eMarketer also cites three trends for the slowdown in the growth of these numbers globally, including the fact that tablets are still seen as “luxury items” by many people.
“Tablets face increased competition from smartphones and a widening array of connected devices, including phablets, wearables, connected TVs and dedicated gaming devices, particularly in late-adopting countries like Japan and South Korea,” added the company in its analysis.
“The use case for tablets is not always clear, particularly in markets where smartphone and phablet usage is robust.”
Apple in particular has faced questions from analysts about sales of its iPad tablets, which declined year-on-year in its last two financial quarters, although its sales figures from the last quarter of 2014 have yet to be published.
Whereas, Research firm IDC has predicted a “massive deceleration” in tablet shipments for 2014, suggesting an additional reason: the fact that many tablet owners seem to be happy to wait three or four years before upgrading their devices.
In estimates published in November 2014, IDC said it expected 235.7m tablets to ship in 2014, with 67.7% of them running Google’s Android software, 27.5% running Apple’s iOS, and 4.6% running Windows software.
About this Forecast:
eMarketer said in its article about the forecasts as "eMarketer bases all of its forecasts on a multipronged approach that focuses on both worldwide and local trends in the economy, technology and population, along with company-, product-, country- and demographic-specific trends, and trends in specific consumer behaviors. We analyze quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of research firms, government agencies, media outlets and company reports, weighting each piece of information based on methodology and soundness.
In addition, every element of each eMarketer forecast fits within the larger matrix of all its forecasts, with the same assumptions and general framework used to project figures in a wide variety of areas. Regular re-evaluation of each forecast means those assumptions and framework are constantly updated to reflect new market developments and other trends."

The article originally appeared at Hothcpotch Post. It has been reproduced after taking permissions from Hotchpotch Post.