The tablet market is in a state of decline since 2015. Worldwide shipments in the last quarter of 2015 declined 13.7% year-over-year (YoY). According to IDC, the first quarter of 2016 didn’t bring good news for tablet vendors as well; the YoY decline was 14.7%.
So why would Google decide to go ahead with a tablet program? We haven’t seen a tablet from the Nexus program since 2015. We got Nexus 7 in 2013 and Nexus 9 in 2014. There was no Nexus 7 in 2014 and 2015, even though rumors pointed otherwise.
We think Google has decided to finally scrap the Nexus tablet program to focus on introducing smartphones only. Google introduced Nexus 9 in collaboration with HTC. The display size was praised and some even considered it as a good tablet. However, the response did not translate into target sales level that Google was probably looking for.
Moreover, HTC isn’t the top brand that users look up to when it comes to the tablet market. It wasn’t HTC’s fault though; ASUS, the other popular partner that Google kept on-board for its Nexus 7 project, made some excellent tablets. The Nexus 7 2013 was an impressive device and for once, we hoped that Google would listen to its customers and let ASUS introduce another Nexus 7 in 2014 or maybe 2015.
None of that happened and now rumors from the Chinese social media company, Weibo claim that the Nexus 7 project is underway and Huawei hasn’t been tapped for it. We think that post is wrong or has come from an unreliable source. Chances are that Google might not tap Huawei for its next Nexus smartphone project for 2016.
Rumors regarding the Nexus phones in 2016 to debut during I/O conference are quite strong, and we think Google will continue with the tradition of introducing two Nexus smartphones instead of one. Last year, we were introduced to the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P, two solid all-rounder devices. As far as the tablet category goes, Google filled that vacuum by introducing Google Pixel C, its first in-house tablet.
This indicates that Google is comfortable experimenting with the hardware on its own and isn’t completely reliant on Android OEM’s. The Pixel C was targeted to compete with the Apple iPad Pro and the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. This is where the tablet competition and market is headed. Consumers are moving towards smartphones that blur the line between a smartphone and a tablet, a.k.a phablets. As far as the tablet market is concerned, the major battle is in enterprise instead of the consumer market, and would likely be a fierce one between Apple and Microsoft. Google will struggle to be in the top two and hence won’t invest any resources on a Nexus 7 whatsoever.
source:technewstoday
