Windows tablet sales are eclipsing Android and challenging Apple’s iPad dominance.
The Telsyte Australian tablet market study 2017 shows that Window tablet sales grew 60 per cent in the second half of last year compared to the 2015 second half. Android tablet sales dropped 13 per cent, while iPad sales fell 9 per cent.
Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi attributed the surge to Windows 10’s ability to morph to tablet mode when the keyboard was detached.
“They (Microsoft) now have a very strong selling product that’s captured the imagination of both consumers and business people,” he said.
“People are seeking one device to use as a larger screen format in addition to their smartphones. They’re looking for a device so they don’t need to have a separate tablet, as well as a computer.”
Mr Fadaghi said touchscreen computing was becoming mainstream for consumers and business. “It’s been facilitated by the 2-in-1 market which is essentially a tablet with a keyboard,” he said.
“That is driving the market in Australia.”
Thirty per cent of tablets sold were now 2-in-1s, up 15 per cent from a year ago, and more than 90 per cent of Windows tablets sold were 2-in-1s. Almost 60 per cent of Australians had access to a tablet, Telsyte said.
Overall tablet sales in the 2016 second half were still soft but rebounded slightly, up 2 per cent from a year earlier. Full-year tablet sales were also slightly up compared to 2015. Telsyte estimates that 1.67 million tablets were sold in Australia last year.
According to the findings, 58 per cent of Australian families with children have tablets. And half of businesses already buy tablets.
Users on average spent two hours a day on their tablets, with more than 80 per cent primarily using them at home. The time spent on 2-in-1 tablets significantly increased when compared to standard tablets, with more than 30 per cent using them outside of home.
Mr Fadaghi said Windows 10 also was proving a challenge for Apple. “Microsoft has really gone hard where they have a clear difference to Apple, and we think that’s going to create some challenges for Apple going forward, particularly in the professional marketplace, such as with graphics designers and draftspeople”, Mr Fadaghi said.
Australians too were moving away from sub-premium tablets. Telsyte estimates less than 10 per cent of tablets sold in the 2016 second half were of the cheaper kind. About 40 per cent of Australians were willing to pay more for top-notch electronics.
“We saw the arrival of a range of cheap and cheerful tablets that many people purchased but the utility of those devices has been substantially impacted by the arrival of phablets, or larger-format smartphones which are typically full featured and more portable,” Mr Fadaghi said.
Phablet-sized iPhones such as the iPhone 7 Plus had undermined sales of the iPad Mini.
Meanwhile the popularity of Android tablets was continuing to slide. “The market both locally and globally is typically supporting just two main platforms, and therefore we think that Windows has stepped up and in some ways has replaced Android,” Mr Fadaghi said.
The most important factors when choosing a tablet differed among users of different operating systems. While Android tablet users are more focused on battery life followed by price, iPad users prioritise ease of use, while Windows tablet users value screen quality.
Telsyte estimates that tablets will continue to eat into the traditional PC and Mac user bases as more touchscreen functionality and new devices enter the market this year.
The survey found that about 80 per cent of the ICT decision makers and CIO respondents are interested in buying larger-format touch screen computers such as the Microsoft Surface Studio and Surface Hub.
Telsyte said that by 2021, about 10 per cent of desktop PCs sold would have touch screen interfaces.
Sales of accessories for tablets continues to boom, with 71 per cent of tablet users purchasing some form of accessory.
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