Much like the PC industry has experienced, the demand for tablets is getting weaker. Suppliers are now even phasing out their tablet IC business as Digitimes reports. Sales are expected to decline 10-20 percent in 2016. The rising popularity of large-size smart-phones has had an adverse impact on the tablet market, said the sources.

As Digitimes reports; Tablet demand worldwide will likely decline 10-20% in 2016, the sources indicated. Shipments of tablets running Android OS might be less than 160 million units in 2015, and will fall further to 120-130 million in 2016, the sources predicted. More international vendors have moved to leave the tablet-IC market because of low prices which will yield them low profits, the sources observed. In addition to weak demand, price competition among tablet chip providers remains intense, the sources said.

On the other hand, MediaTek has seen its shipments for tablets continue to grow, the sources noted. The Taiwan-based company aims to ship 45 million tablet chips in 2015.

Tablet demand weak - might drop another 20 percent