Tablet sales dip by 18 per cent

New Delhi: Indian tablet PC market shrunk by 18 per cent to 3.5 million units in 2016, research firm CMR said on Friday.

In the fourth quarter, the shipments recorded a 16 per cent fall on account of lukewarm sales, it said. The total sales stood at 0.81 million in Q4 of 2016, compared to 0.97 million in the year-ago period.

Datawind retained the top position with 34 per cent market share, followed by Samsung (18 per cent), Pantel (12 per cent) and Micromax (10 per cent) in 2016.

In terms of technology, 2G shipments showed a sharp fall of 92 per cent in 2016 over 2015, 3G declined 71 per cent and 4G rose by 6 per cent.

“Both CMR and IDC reports have again confirmed that Datawind is India’s premiere tablet brand chosen by a greater portion of the population than any other brand. The factors that work in our favour and have allowed us reach to the consumers in the remotest of areas include devices bundled with free internet browsing, local manufacturing and patented technology,” said Suneet Singh Tuli, president, DataWind.

He said DataWind target in 2017 is to launch new 4G-enabled ultra low cost devices.