Australian tablet sales have slowed for the first time in three years and the iPad has lost coveted top spot as owners wait for a reason to upgrade.
Sales hit 1.8 million in the first half of the year, down 28 per cent on the second half of last year, according to new figures from research company Telsyte.
Sales are expected to pick up in the second half to reach 3.9 million for the year, but that will remain far fewer than the 5.8 million sold in 2013.
The market hasn't necessarily peaked, said Telsyte's managing director Foad Fadaghi, "but it's definitely slowing down in terms of growth and adoption".
Much of the slowdown can be explained by longer-than-expected replacement cycles, he said.
When tablets were first launched, many people thought consumers would replace them every two years, like a smartphone, or every three years, like a computer.
"But what we've seen is many devices now lasting over three years and still functioning as they were designed to, and still running all the latest software," he said
"The reasons to upgrade currently don't exist," he said, adding that the market would probably begin to pick up again around 2016.
Apple appears hardest hit by the slowdown, with rival Android tablets outselling the flagship iPad for the first time on record.
Android tablets accounted for 47 per cent of all sales in the first half of the year, compared with 46 per cent for iPads. Windows tablets made up the remaining 7 per cent.
But Fadaghi said Apple would likely regain supremacy by the end of the year, propelled by the expected launch of new iPad models.
The company might also benefit from publicity surrounding the launch of the iPhone 6, which is expected in September.
"More than half of iPhone users already have an iPad," he said. "Whether consumers upgrade both this year will be the question many will be asking."
iPad users are more likely to upgrade than Android users, Telsyte's research shows.
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