Research house International Data Corporation (IDC) says the Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market recorded its first year-on-year decline in the first quarter of the year, with shipments to the region declining 5.8%, to 3.83 million units.
This comes after years of successive gains in the MEA region. According to the latest market insight released by IDC, the poor performance was due to a sharp dip in Turkey, the region's biggest tablet market, where shipments almost halved in comparison to the corresponding quarter in 2014.
"The major reason behind 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," says Fouad Charakla, research manager for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC.
"Currency fluctuations in Turkey, high inventory levels carried over from Q4 2014, and some saturation in the tablet market also had a negative impact on shipments targeted at the consumer segment."
These factors were responsible for a slowdown in the market's performance in other key parts of the region as well, says IDC. In addition, the devaluation of certain major international currencies, such as the euro and rouble, negatively impacted tablet demand in MEA, as a result of reduced international trade and tourism from the affected regions.
Apple sales fall
The research firm notes Samsung continues to lead the MEA tablet market in terms of shipments, despite suffering a decline of 5.5% year-on-year, to total 920 000 units in the first quarter. Lenovo overtook Apple to move into second place for the first time, growing almost 96.4% year-on-year by shipping 520 000 units.
Third-placed Apple, says IDC, continued to suffer, posting a sharp decline of 43%, to total 430 000 units. Meanwhile, Huawei - in fourth place - was the fastest growing major vendor in MEA, shipping 240 000 units, achieving a 280.3% year-on-year growth rate. Turkish vendor Casper posted substantial growth of 131.2%, to rank fifth overall, with 150 000 units.
IDC predicts 2015, as a whole, will see positive growth, with shipments increasing 5.8% year-on-year, to total 17.66 million units. However, this represents a stark slowdown from the overall growth of 41.6% seen in 2014. "The reduction in global oil prices has caused a slowdown in government-driven initiatives in some of the region's oil-producing countries, negatively impacting demand for tablet devices," says Charakla.
"The decline in government spending has also had a ripple effect on other sectors across the region, and has impacted demand from the consumer segment."
In the longer run, IDC expects the tablet market to continue growing at a healthy pace over the coming years, cannibalising some of the demand that currently exists for personal computers.
However, with the company expecting shipments to increase 7% and 7.9%, respectively, in 2016 and 2017, the market's growth will be greatly reduced from the rates experienced in the recent past. The IDC adds the decline seen in the tablet market's average selling price in recent times will slow down significantly over the coming years.
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