Tablet shipments in the MEA decline for the first time ever in Q1 Y-o-Y

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market recorded its first ever year-on-year decline in Q1 2015, with shipments to the region declining 5.8 per cent to 3.83 million units according to the latest market insights announced today by International Data Corporation (IDC). The company blamed the poor performance on a sharp decline in the region’s biggest tablet market, Turkey, where shipments almost halved when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2014.

A major reason for the decline of the Turkish market was the discontinuation of deliveries for the massive FATIH education project, which had a huge impact on commercial demand for tablets in the country during Q1. Currency fluctuations in Turkey, high inventory levels carried over from Q414, and some saturation in the tablet market also had a negative impact on shipments targeted at the consumer segment.

It should be noted that these latter three factors were responsible for slowing the market’s performance in other key parts of the region as well. Meanwhile, the devaluation of certain major international currencies, such as the euro and ruble, has also negatively impacted tablet demand in MEA as a result of reduced international trade and tourism from the affected regions.

Samsung continued to lead the MEA tablet market in terms of shipments, despite suffering a decline of 5.5 per cent year-on-year to total 920,000 units. Lenovo overtook Apple into second place for the first time, growing almost 96.4 per cent year-on-year after shipping 520,000 units. Third-placed Apple continued to suffer, posting a sharp decline of 43.0 per cent to total 430,000 units. In fourth place, Huawei was the fastest growing major vendor in MEA, shipping 240,000 units for a 280.3 per cent year-on-year growth rate. Turkish vendor Casper posted substantial growth of 131.2 per cent to rank fifth overall with 150,000 units.

The year 2015 as a whole will see positive growth, with shipments forecast to increase 5.8 per cent year-on-year to total 17.66 million units. However, this represents a stark slowdown from the overall growth of 41.6 per cent seen in 2014.

In the longer run, the tablet market is expected to continue growing at a healthy pace over the coming years, cannibalising some of the demand that currently exists for personal computers. However, with IDC expecting shipments to increase 7.0 per cent and 7.9 per cent respectively in 2016 and 2017, the market’s growth will be greatly reduced from the stellar rates experienced in the recent past. It should also be noted that the decline that has been seen in the tablet market’s average selling price in recent times will slow down significantly over the coming years.