Tablet Shipments Still on the Decline

Global tablet shipments continue to decline, dropping 12.3 percent year over year to 38.7 million in the second quarter of 2016.

Android-based tablets nabbed 65 percent of the market share, according to IDC, while Apple iOS (26 percent) and Microsoft Windows (9 percent) drag behind.

"The next 12 to 18 months will be very interesting as Google launches the next version of Android with better multitasking support and as they begin to bring together their two operating systems," Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers, said in a statement.

It's been bad news for tablets since late 2014, when IDC lowered its forecast for the year, blaming falling laptop prices, increased interest in wearables and smartphones, and existing tablet owners keeping their devices longer than usual.

"The market has spoken as consumers and enterprises seek more productive form factors and operating systems—it's the reason we're seeing continued growth in detachables," Ubrani said.

Earlier this year, IDC suggested 2-in-1 devices are the one bright spot in the tablet market. Tablets shipments were down 10.1 percent at the time, but if you consider 2-in-1s part of the tablet market, the devices "reached an all-time high" of 8.1 million units. Still, "slates continue to represent the vast majority of the segment," said IDC tablets research director Jean Philippe Bouchard.

The launch of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro helped lessen Apple's year-over-year decline to 9 percent, but also raised the company's average selling price and revenue.

Amazon's low-priced Fire tablets, meanwhile, earned the e-commerce giant a spot in the top five vendor list, below Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, and Huawei.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.