It has been a chastening time for tablet manufacturers over the past couple of years. If the latest sales report from ICT research firm IDC during Q4 2015 is to be believed, this isn't about to change. In fact, the market saw a year-on-year decline of 13.7% for Q4 2015, with market leaders Apple and Samsung also feeling the effects despite ranking first and second respectively in terms of shipments. 

This report makes it the fifth consecutive quarter that the tablet market has been on the decrease, with 2015 seeing a 10.1% fall over the past 12 months. For Q4 2015, 65.9 million units shipped compared to 76.4 million during the same period the previous year. 

It wasn't all doom and gloom for every tablet manufacturer however, as Huawei and Amazon both grew their market shares by 2.1% and 5.4% respectively. Amazon was also the biggest climber year-on-year, placing them third overall behind Apple and Samsung. The former saw the biggest slide, falling 3.6%, shipping only 16.1 million units last quarter, as opposed to 21.4 million the year before.    

IDC also weighed in what the future of tablets might look like, with detachables and hybrids possibly usurping their touch only counterparts. “This quarter was unique as we had new detachables in the market from all three of the major platform players,” notes IDC senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani. 

“Despite lukewarm reviews, the iPad Pro was the clear winner this season as it was the top selling detachable, surpassing notable entries from Microsoft and other PC vendors. It’s also important to note that the transition towards detachable tablets has presented positive opportunities for both Apple and Microsoft. However, Google’s recent foray into this space has been rather lackluster as the Android platform will require a lot more refinement to achieve any measurable success,” concluded Ubrani.