Opinion: The tablet market goes from bad to worse!

That tablet sales are declining, no secret. Each quarter, manufacturers have been accumulating significant declines in sales of these devices. Looking at the latest numbers in the tablet market, it is clear that the technology industry needs to innovate if it wants to reverse such a scenario.

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The tablets had a strong rise, but ended up in technological limbo in recent months! / ANDROIDPIT

At first glance, sales in 2014 may not even look bad: altogether 229,600 tablets were sold, representing 4.4% more than the previous year. However, when comparing the fourth quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2013, there was a loss of 3.2%. And this is not the first time tablet sales are declining.

And before you think these numbers are only associated with mobile devices running Android, please know that all manufacturers have slipped in this area. Apple fell by -17.8% between Q4 2013/2014, for example. In the same period of a year, Samsung was down by -18.4%, while Amazon appears to have had its worst performance, down by -69.9% from the fourth quarter of 2013/2014.

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According to Business Insider, manufacturers experienced a significant drop in tablet sales in 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. / Business Insider

In AndroidPIT we can notice the same market trend. Monthly, the portal has more than 18 million unique visitors, and from this benchmark, only 7% access the site using a tablet. But if sales have grown globally, why the worry, right? Wrong! The last quarter of the year is extremely important for the turnaround in mobile device sales, especially driven by Christmas shopping. As tablet sales fall in Q4 2014, a red light comes on in the industry.

2014 was marked by the increase in the size of smartphones. When we look at iconic series like the iPhone and the Nexus line, there's no doubt that cell phones are replacing traditional 7-inch tablets, for example. This goes beyond: With the popularization of Ultrabooks / Chromebooks, it is quite understandable that tablets are becoming by-products and that they need to be reinvented so you don't have to carry a smartphone, notebook and third device in your backpack.

How to reverse this picture?

With the second episode of tales of the Game of Thrones, the battery of my Xperia Z2 was being consumed very quickly, which made me think that for certain games a tablet capable of running good graphics and a battery above average would be a great option for players using mobile devices over consoles. Using tablets to gaming It is one of the categories where industries should invest to encourage the use of these gadgets, which NVIDIA has done very well for example. O SHIELD tablet combines the smart functions of a tablet with the use of a gaming remote control and streaming of media.

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Lenovo's Yoga Tab 2 Pro with its own accessories could be an example of innovative tablet. / ANDROIDPIT

Another point to be taken into account is that, unlike smartphones, tablets stay longer with users; So switching to a more powerful and better model can range from two to three years. However, this behavior can also be associated with the fact that the industry does not innovate, which ends up reflecting directly on the interest of the consumer gadget exchange. Today, if a manufacturer really wants to stand out from the crowd, they should invest in peripherals for their devices and give the user a chance to integrate smartphone and tablet, as well as a great lightweight personal computer replacement option with a intuitive user interface that won't leave the user up for performance.

Therefore, for the tablet market to recover, manufacturers will have to invest in research and quality products, offering excellent value for money and extra real value compared to smartphones, notebooks and others. Otherwise, the tablet will be, as such, not only dead, but also buried.

What about, do you use a tablet? What use do you make of it? In your opinion, the national tablet market is compromised, never leveraged or do you notice that more and more people are buying this type of device? Let us know in the comments below.

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