eMarketer: Tablet Users to Surpass 1 Billion Worldwide in 2015

Worldwide usage doubled in past three years, but growth expected to slow

NEW YORK AND LONDON (January 8, 2014) — More than 1 billion people worldwide will use a tablet in 2015, according to new figures from eMarketer, representing nearly 15% of the global population and more than double the number of three years ago. By 2018, the number of tablet users in the world will reach 1.43 billion.

This is the first time eMarketer has made projections for the number of tablet users worldwide. The key takeaway is that growth in the global tablet-using population will slow dramatically in 2015 and continue to taper off. The total number of tablet users is expected to increase by 17.1% this year. While this figure is healthy, it pales in comparison to year-over-year growth rates 54.1% in 2013 and 29.1% in 2014. By 2018, the growth rate for new tablet users worldwide will be just 7.9%.

A key factor for this slowing growth is that the current number of users is skewed by an abundance in developed markets. As those markets mature, growth in emerging markets is not expected to pick up much slack. Three trends influence our conservative outlook:

• Tablets continue to be perceived as luxury items, both from a perspective of share of wallet and share of time spent with media.
• Tablets face increased competition from smartphones and a widening array of connected devices, including phablets, wearables, connected TVs and dedicated gaming devices, particularly in late-adopting countries like Japan and South Korea.
• The use case for tablets is not always clear, particularly in markets where smartphone and phablet usage is robust.

“The shared nature of tablets and increased competition from other connected devices reduce the likelihood that the tablet audience will match the size of the smartphone audience worldwide,” said Cathy Boyle, senior analyst at eMarketer. “The most limiting factor is the use case for a tablet: It is not as clear-cut or compelling as a communication tool, the core capability and use case for a smartphone.”