Skip to footer

When can we expect the best tablet deals this year?

Tablet deals were plentiful in 2014, but this year they've been few and far between despite heightened consumer interest. While tablet deals overall are down this year, however, there has been an uptick in good bargains on iPads. 

|
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/File
The iPad Air 2 is displayed for journalists at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. Deals on tablets are at their lowest level in three years, according to DealNews.

You're not imagining things: the well of tablet deals has been a little dry so far in 2015. Not only are we seeing fewer tablet deals than in previous years, but we're also seeing fewer Editors' Choice-worthy tablets. To find out when the deals will come back, we dug through the DealNews archives and spoke to an industry expert.

So before we talk about the future of tablets, let's get a grasp on the past.

2014 Was an Incredible Year for Tablet Deals

We saw 26% more tablet deals in 2014 than we did in 2013. When you break down the data into individual tablet categories, 2014's numbers get even more impressive. For instance, we saw a 127% increase in the number of Windows tablet deals between 2013 and 2014. That's a massive jump, especially when you consider the fact that DealNews doesn't list every tablet sale or discount — we only list items that are notable price lows, with the very best offers earning our Editors' Choice seal.

How does 2015 measure up so far? Not well. To date, we've seen fewer tablet deals overall in 2015 than in any year since 2012. You're also less likely to score an Editors' Choice deal. By this time in 2014, 35% of the Android tablet deals were hot enough to be marked Editors' Choice; compare that to only 28% so far in 2015. The difference is even worse when it comes to Windows tabs and iPads, where deals have dropped by 32% in 2015 compared to 2014.

Tablet Industry Growing Pains

Don't mistake the current dearth of deals for the tablet's death knell, though; industry insiders see a growing interest in these slates. CEA Senior Manager of Industry Analysis Chris Ely spoke with DealNews about the results of a recent CEA study. Among the study's findings was that tablets have finally broken into the top 10 most commonly owned consumer electronics products.

"Household ownership of tablets increased. Fifty-four percent of U.S. households reported that they own at least one tablet, and that's up from 45% in 2014," Ely said. "And also tablets are becoming more dense. Many households are actually buying more tablets. This year there's 1.8 tablets per household on average; last year it was 1.6."

To put these numbers into perspective, Ely explained that in April 2011, only 8% of U.S. households reported owning a tablet, compared to the current 54%. "It took smartphones almost six years to reach a household penetration rate above 50%, where it took tablets four years," Ely said. "We're not necessarily seeing anything that suggests a slow down."

When Will the Tablet Deals Come Back?

It's worth noting that, while the total number of tablet deals is down for 2015, we've actually seen about 8% more iPad discounts so far than we had at this time in 2014. Admittedly, this slight uptick in iPads hasn't come with a corresponding increase in Editors' Choice nods (again, those are down by 32%), but iPads are the only tablet category that's beaten 2014 numbers at all. In October, we can reasonably expect Apple to announce a new iPad generation, which will lead to even more iPad price drops on older models. Therefore, Apple fans should save their pennies for the fall.

Windows tablets don't have quite the same outlook as iPads, unfortunately. These slates saw astoundingly low prices in 2014, setting records that are tough to beat. That said, rumors are circulating that the Surface Pro 4 could launch as soon as July. If this is the case, we can expect a dramatic increase in offers for previous-gen Surfaces over the summer. Even without a new Surface, the upcoming release of Windows 10 could fuel several tie-in tablet sales.

Lacking a single flagship model to steer prices for the whole category, Android tablet trends are harder to pin down. We know we're in a significant slump, as 2015 so far has seen about 45% fewer Android tablet offers compared to the same period in 2014. An Android fan's best bet is to wait for Black Friday and the holiday season; we consistently see crazy price lows on Androids during these shopping holidays.

Our current tablet deal slump is a not-so-fun reminder of the cyclical nature of prices. But if you missed out on 2014's amazing offers, you don't have to settle for paying more. Now is the time to be patient, because better tablet deals are just around the corner!

This article first appeared in DealNews.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to When can we expect the best tablet deals this year?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2015/0622/When-can-we-expect-the-best-tablet-deals-this-year
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe