In an earnings conference call Tuesday, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly told analysts that tablet sales have fallen 30% across the industry, The Financial Post reported. He said that Best Buy saw its own tablet sales fall as well, though by a margin less than 30%.
Why aren’t people buying tablets anymore? Extra-large phones like the iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung’s Galaxy Note are big enough to serve as both phone and tablet. That reality is especially hurting sales of smaller tablets like the iPad Mini. Apple introduced a new version of the iPad Mini in October of last year to little fanfare.
Tablet sales grew only 11% in 2014, according to research firm Gartner, down from 55% growth the year before. Gartner projected 229 million tablets were sold in 2014.
Tablets first burst onto the mainstream consumer electronics scene in 2010 when Apple released the iPad.