A total of 701,000 tablets were shipped in India in CY Q1 2017 – a marginal drop of 2.2 percent from 716,000 units in the previous quarter, according to the latest IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Tablet shipments in the consumer segment also declined 28 percent in Q1 2017 compared to the same period last year and resulted in a sharp 18.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) drop in total tablet shipments in India.The commercial segment accounted for one-third of total tablet shipments in India.
Giving insights about the trends in Q1 2017, IDC said tablets with 4G based connectivity accounted for around 39.2 percent in Q1 2017, up from 15.3 percent from Q1 2016. For the first time in recent years, the share of 7-7.9” tablets dipped to 70 percent in Q1 2017. 8-8.9” tablets contributed to 12.3 percent of the total tablet shipments in Q1 2017, up from 8.9% in Q1 2016, primarily driven by consumer segment. Shipments of 10” plus tablets were up by 43 percent YoY in Q1 2017 to account for 11.6 percent of market share.
Detachable tablets still account for a nominal share of the total tablet market, driven primarily by the consumer segment. Acer continued to dominate this product category, followed by Apple’s iPad Pro. Tablets sold through online channels accounted for 35 percent of the total tablet shipments in Q1 2017.
Samsung lead the Indian tablet market with 21.3% market share while shipments increased 4.0 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in CY Q1 2017. Datawind took second spot with a market share of 20.7% but shipments are down 38.9 percent over Q1 2016. Lenovo, iBall and Apple had 20%, 17.2% and 5.3% market share respectively.
Celso Gomes, Associate Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India said,
The commercial segment is the key driver for offsetting the declining consumer shipments in India. Due to growing digital proliferation across industries, commercial segment especially large enterprise, government and education sectors, are expected to increase their demand for tablets. This will drive vendors to focus more aggressively in gaining market share in the commercial market to sustain the India tablet market.
Tablet shipments in India in CY Q2 2017 are likely to be negatively impacted by the GST implementation which is expected to begin from 1st July 2017. The distribution channels for tablets will be cautious on procuring new inventory especially in the month of June.
Navkendar Singh , Sr. Research Manager, IDC India said,
Apprehensions on lower tax credit and lack of complete clarity regarding the processes are the major concerns of retailers and city/state level distributors, which may lead to a limited inventory stocking, especially in the June 2017. But impact is expected to be short spanned as channel would prepare themselves for the festive season in second half of Q3 2017.