Really? Tablets Are Dying!

Should I be happy or alarmed?
 

- Shreya Bhattacharya

Really? Tabs are dying? Tabs are no longer in frequent use? Or is it something like people are using them only when they need them? Like something really useful which is to be used only when required and not for all-time purpose. And we did already have a debate on this recently in a friends’ meet.

YES, TABS ARE DYING! ACTUALLY DYING…

For a few years after the 2010 launch of the iPad, there seemed to be a gold rush, with every company — from PC makers like Dell to phone companies like HTC and even the cassette-tape vendor Maxell — making tablets. Fast forward to 2017, and 2-in-1s, which serve as both laptops and slates, are popular, but the market for stand-alone tablets has fallen through the floor. Do you even need a tablet these days?

Tablet sales have dropped 30 percent since their peak in 2013 and declined a full 15 percent between 2015 and 2016. And trust me, it could have been ever sharper!

The public's romance with tablets is over, because average phones have gotten large enough to serve as great media consumption devices, and because laptops, which are far superior productivity devices, have gotten lighter and more affordable. A 2016 consumer survey from Deloitte asked 30,000 respondents to name their preferred device types for 15 different activities, which ranged from watching TV to conducting video chats and shopping online. The tablet was the preferred device for none of these activities. Alarming, isn’t? (asking the tabs lovers!)

BUT WAIT…WHAT IF, TABS ARE GETTING TO THE POINT OF BEING REALLY USEFUL?