2-in-1 Sales

Worldwide tablet sales, combining slates and detachables, will fall in 2016 but will begin growing in 2017 and beyond by single-digit percentage rates as demand grows for models with detachable keyboards, IDC forecast.

Worldwide tablet shipments, combining slates and detachables, will drop 5.9 percent to 195 million units in 2016, IDC said.

Detachables feature detachable keyboards built by the tablet’s maker and either sold with keyboard included or as an option, IDC tablet research director Jean Philippe Bouchard said. They include products such as the iPad Pro and Surface Pro 3 whose keyboards are a separate purchase, he noted.

Detachable share: Shipments of detachables will grow from 16.6 million in 2015 to 63.8 million in 2020, accounting for 8 percent of the 2015 tablet market and 30 percent, respectively, IDC said. In 2016, detachable unit sales will rise 73 percent, and they will rise 15 percent in 2020 over 2019, IDC forecast.