IDC reports the W. European tablet market reaches stability of sorts in Q2 2015 as shipments reach 7.5 million with 1.2% Y-o-Y decline-- the softest since the downturn started at the beginning of 2014.
Leading to such results is the combination of weak consumer demand for tablets and growing commercial interest in 2-in-1 devices. As such, regular tablet shipments are down by -4.4% Y-o-Y while 2-in-1s see 71% Y-o-Y growth, even if 2-in-1 volume remains relatively small with overall share reaching 7.3% of the total Q2 2015 market.
“The most notable new 2-in-1 model is probably the Microsoft Surface 3, a smaller and more affordable version of Surface Pro 3, but other new 2-in-1s were introduced by well-established international players as well as several local or sub-regional vendors," the analyst says. "The latter not only contributed to broaden the 2-in-1 offering but, thanks to the strength of their brand at a local level and the usually lower price points of their products, also helped boost the volume of the market for detachable devices, where their share jumped sequentially from below 1% to over 4%.”