Tablet shipments continued their global decline in Q2 - CNET

Consumers' love affair with tablets appears to be over.

The market for slates slid more than 12 percent in the second quarter, according to data released Monday by market researcher IDC, the seventh consecutive decline in quarterly shipments. The sector saw 38.7 millions shipped during the quarter compared with 44.1 million units in the year-ago period.

Following several years of huge tablet growth, tablet shipments have been dropping off steadily since the sector posted its first-ever shipment decline in the fourth quarter of 2014. Reasons for declining consumer demand range from greater demand for big-screen phones to tablet owners hanging on to models longer and a lack of compelling new features.

"The market has spoken as consumers and enterprises seek more productive form factors and operating systems," Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC, said in a statement. "However, the next 12 to 18 months will be very interesting as Google launches the next version of Android with better multi-tasking support and as they begin to bring together their two operating systems."