The tablet market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is nearing saturation point in many countries and is being "cannibalised" by the emergence of smartphones with larger screens.
This is according to Nakul Dogra, senior research analyst for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at the International Data Corporation (IDC).
The MEA tablet market posted flat growth of 0.3% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2015. A total of 4.05 million units were shipped in Q2, with tablets growing 0.1% year-on-year to total four million units. The two-in-one market grew 17.6% over the same period to make up the remaining 50 000 units.
"The market share of large-screen smartphones is increasing, and the launch of the iPhone 6 Plus has only served to spur the trend toward bigger screen sizes in this space," says Dogra.
For the first half of the year, the overall tablet market shrunk 3.2%, which compares unfavourably to the 59.6% year-on-year growth recorded in the corresponding period of 2014.
Another factor that added to the slowdown was crude oil prices sitting at a six-year low. Fouad Rafiq Charakla, programme manager for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at the IDC, says this led to a reduction in government spending, particularly in oil-dependent countries.
"This has curtailed government-driven initiatives in several countries across the MEA region, and contractions in the public sector typically have a ripple effect on consumer sentiment, which is also being impacted by currency fluctuations and political insurgencies in some parts of the region," adds Charakla.
In terms of brands, Samsung continued to lead the tablet market in the second quarter, holding on to 28% of the market share and increasing its shipments by 31.3% year-on-year. Lenovo placed second, with 13.2% market share and year-on-year growth of 27%. Despite suffering a 27.3% year-on-year drop in shipments, Apple maintained its third-place ranking with a market share of 11.2%.
The MEA tablet market is expected to post more resilient year-on-year growth of 6.6% in Q3. The IDC forecasts that over 16.8 million units will be shipped in 2015 as a whole, equating to a year-on-year growth rate of 0.8%.
"The Android operating system will witness healthy growth, but will continue to lose share to the iOS and Windows operating systems," says the IDC.
Dogra believes the growth of Windows will be spurred by greater adoption of tablets and two-in-one devices in the commercial segment.
"Businesses will find it easier to incorporate Windows into their existing IT infrastructures and corporate cultures, rather than introduce a new OS hub just for tablets, thereby enabling them to run the same OS on both PCs and tablets. We also expect the share of two-in-one devices in this market to grow from around 1.2% currently, to 3.3% by the end of 2016," says Dogra.
The education sector will be pivotal to this growth and the IDC expects a steady increase in the adoption of two-in-one devices in this sector, primarily as a result of government-driven initiatives.
"Education remains a key focus for governments in the region, and the reductions we have seen in budgets have typically not hampered government spending in the sector," adds Charakla.
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