Recently, there has been a steady stream of bad news about the consumer electronics downturn, with phones and computers both hit hard. Yet it's not just these two categories—media have found that tablets appear to be suffering the same fate. What exactly is going on?

1. Phones Aren't Selling—and Tablets Are Suffering Too?

According to a report by China Newsweek, after smartphones fell into the vicious cycle of "the more shipped, the harder the losses," the chill has traveled down the supply chain and blown toward tablets.

Recently, a digital blogger revealed that several familiar phone and tablet product lines will be discontinued. On major social platforms, young people who had originally planned to buy tablets during this year's "Double 11" shopping festival also found that tablets—which used to drop several hundred yuan during major promotions—are not only stingy with discounts this year; some new models have even raised prices.

Data from third-party institutions confirms this chill. The "China Smart Tablet Retail Market Monthly Tracker" report released by RUNTO shows that in the first half of 2026, all-channel sales in China's consumer smart tablet market were 12.787 million units, plunging 18.6% year-on-year.

IDC's report on China's tablet PC market for the second quarter of 2026 shows that overall tablet shipments in China that quarter were 7.96 million units, down 4.4% year-on-year—a decline even slightly narrower than in the first quarter.

But beneath this seemingly mild report card, IDC issued a warning: on the surface the market decline narrowed, but in reality market pressure has not eased—it has actually intensified further.

Looking closely at IDC's data, the reason the overall decline narrowed in Q2 was entirely due to substantial growth in the commercial market holding up the show; while the consumer tablet market, which directly reflects individual purchasing willingness, saw shipments fall 9.8% year-on-year in Q2—more than twice the overall market's decline.

The answer likely lies in channel partners' warehouses. Liu Yun, IDC China research manager, explained to the Interesting Report that the so-called "high growth" in the commercial market in Q2 this year was mainly driven by expectations of subsequent price increases—channel partners, in order to lock in low prices, were more willing to take delivery and stock up in advance, plus some government and enterprise clients moved up their procurement.

2. What Exactly Is Going On with Tablets?

Recently, phones aren't selling, and tablets are having a hard time along with them. Many people may find it strange—although both are electronic products, how is it that they rise and fall together?

First, AI is squeezing consumer electronics across the board. The news that phones aren't selling has been circulating for nearly two years, and now this chill has truly reached the tablet market. Many people previously didn't take tablet slow sales too seriously, thinking that as a supplement to phones, its market resilience should be stronger. But the reality is not like that at all—the problems tablets face now are almost homologous to the difficulties encountered by phones and PCs; no one can stay unaffected.

The capacity allocation logic of the entire semiconductor industry changed long ago. Leading chipmakers have almost all shifted their core capacity toward AI-related high-end chips, and consumer-grade general-purpose memory capacity has been continuously compressed. It's not that manufacturers don't want to make more consumer-grade memory—it's that the profits from AI high-end memory are far higher than consumer-grade, and no one will pass up a high-margin business. This capacity shift is not a short-term temporary adjustment but a direction set by industry giants after long-term strategic planning, and it will not reverse in the short term.

Memory chip prices have gradually moved upward from their previous prolonged slump, then directly entered a continuous upward curve, and by now consumer-grade memory prices have risen considerably. This price increase doesn't stop at the upstream component level—screens, batteries, processors, and other essential tablet components are also rising in price along with the upstream supply chain. Cost pressure is transmitted downward layer by layer and will inevitably land on end-product pricing.

Second, the biggest pressure on tablets is not price but positioning. The most fatal problem tablets face now has never been rising costs, but that from the very beginning they have not found an irreplaceable core positioning—they are inherently in a very awkward middle ground. Think back to when you usually use a tablet: in many cases, it's only when you don't want to pick up your phone and there's no need to open your computer that you dig out the tablet. From the first day it was born, it has not been a rigid-demand product but a supplement sandwiched between phones and laptops.

Now phone screen sizes are getting larger and larger. Mainstream flagship phones have long reached 6.7 inches and above. Even for ordinary non-folding phones, the experience of watching videos and browsing content is something unimaginable a few years ago. Not to mention that foldable phones have gradually become popular—once unfolded, their screen size is already close to that of small tablets, giving you a tablet-like viewing experience while carried in your pocket. Many people previously bought tablets just to watch videos; now with a foldable phone in your pocket, you can take it out and get a similar effect, so there's no need to carry an extra tablet.

At the same time, the so-called light office capability of tablets cannot hold up against real laptops. No matter how expensive a stylus or how good an external keyboard you pair with a tablet, when it comes to handling complex documents, running professional software, or working with multiple windows open at once, the tablet experience is far inferior to an ordinary laptop costing two or three thousand yuan. Many people bought tablets thinking they would use them for office work to improve efficiency, but ultimately found that when it's time to really work, they still have to go back to the computer—the tablet at most can be used for simple note-taking.

Previously, tablets could still hold the market through cost-effectiveness. Many people thought that buying a large screen for just over a thousand yuan, even if rarely used, wasn't a loss. Now that end-product prices are rising along with costs, consumers' mindset has immediately changed. Before, spending a small amount on an "iQIYI gadget" didn't hurt even if it sat idle; now that prices have gone up, people repeatedly ask themselves before buying: do I really need this thing? If I spend so much on it, will it just be gathering dust in a drawer most of the time?

Third, the price increase has instead given tablets an opportunity to transform. The price increase cannot be avoided, but tablets will not die because of it. Their opportunity lies in scenarios—only these scenarios will become narrower and more stratified.

AI tablets are one direction. This year, the shipment share of domestic generative AI tablets has already reached more than 30%, with sales growing rapidly year-on-year. Manufacturers have also figured it out: if they can't beat phones on pure hardware specs and can't beat computers on office work, then they should build in functions like AI meeting minutes, note organization, and hand-drawing-to-image conversion, so that tablets are more handy than phones and computers in one specific task.

Demand for education tablets and commercial interactive tablets is also more stable. The procurement logic of schools and enterprises differs from that of individual consumers—they look at how well the product matches teaching and meeting scenarios, are relatively less price-sensitive, and have longer decision cycles, so they are unlikely to collectively turn away just because of a few hundred yuan increase.

But then again, these scenarios can only support part of the market. Mass consumer tablets—the category of "just buy one for fun"—will have an increasingly hard time. The tablet market will not disappear, but it will shrink from a nationwide category into a stratified category with clear usage orientations.

Fourth, should we buy a tablet now? As an ordinary consumer, whether to buy a tablet now depends on your specific needs. If you're buying a tablet just to lie in bed watching videos and binge-watching dramas, then frankly, the value of a tablet is indeed declining. Phone screens are big enough now and the picture quality isn't bad—why spend extra money on a tablet? And you also have to consider portability: bringing your phone when you go out is enough, and stuffing a tablet into your bag seems completely unnecessary.

But if you have specific needs, then a tablet still has its value. For example, students who need to take notes and read literature will find a tablet with a stylus genuinely convenient; designers who need to sketch and edit images will find the tablet's touch experience far more intuitive than a mouse and keyboard; and some people simply like using tablets to read e-books and comics—the large-screen experience is indeed more comfortable than a phone.

Therefore, my advice is: if you truly have these needs, you might want to act quickly before some brands have fully raised prices. After all, the market this year has repeatedly taught every "wait-and-see buyer" that buying early means enjoying early, and buying late isn't necessarily cheaper—you might even catch a wave of price increases. But if you're just following the crowd and want to buy a tablet, then think again—don't spend money only to let it gather dust and become a noodle-cup cover.

The entire digital consumer market has long passed its previous stage of rapid growth. Now no product can forever rely on cost-effectiveness to drive volume, and no category can keep lying in its comfort zone making money. The problems the tablet market faces now are essentially a microcosm of the entire consumer electronics industry: all products with non-rigid demand and vague positioning will reveal their truest face under the double squeeze of rising costs and rational consumption. Going forward, only those who truly find irreplaceable usage scenarios can stand firm in this increasingly difficult market.

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