Galaxy View available through Bell, but ‘not a tablet’

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has released a new touch-screen device, powered by Android software and suitable for web browsing and video streaming, but it is "not a tablet," according to a company spokesman. Samsung and BCE Inc. said in a joint press release Thursday that the new Galaxy View, with its 18.4-inch screen, will be "Samsung's first immersive smart-screen experience, designed to turn every room into a TV room." The companies said the Galaxy View will be sold in Canada exclusively through Bell and its electronics retail chain The Source. It will be priced at $699 and available Nov. 19, the companies added. When asked if the product is a tablet, Samsung Canada spokesman Kevin Galbraith said in an email: "The Galaxy View is not a tablet and it's not a TV. It's an entirely new device for the streaming age, designed to deliver maximum immersive experiences, portability and usability." Its described functionality is similar to that of a tablet. “Consumers can access the Internet, run their favourite apps and experience an overall enhanced mobile experience in a portable way,” Galbraith said. Bell spokesman Jason Laszlo said in an email there are no mobile plans for this device that runs on WiFi only, though Thursday's release said it will come preloaded with a Bell Fibe TV app for subscribers of that service. The View's size is markedly bigger than popular tablets on the market. The biggest tablets listed on Samsung's Canadian website are the Galaxy Tab Pro and Galaxy Note Pro, both with 12.2-inch screens. Apple Inc.’s iPad Pro, to be released in November, has a 12.9-inch screen and the iPad Air 2 has a 9.7-inch screen, according to Apple’s website. Jitesh Ubrani, a senior research analyst with International Data Corp., said his research company is not classifying the Galaxy View as a tablet because this category only applies to devices with screens as big as seven inches and smaller than 16. IDC said in a press release Thursday that worldwide tablet shipments were down 12.6 per cent in this year's third quarter, compared to the same time last year, for a total of 48.7 million units. IDC said it is the fourth-straight quarter in which tablet shipments have declined on a year-to-year basis. Ubrani said the tablet market has gone from shipment growth of 52.5 per cent in 2013 to a smaller bump of 4.8 per cent in 2014 to the declines being seen this year. IDC predicted in August that tablet shipments would be down eight per cent for 2015 overall. Ubrani said an updated forecast will be issued next month. "The two main reasons for the decline in tablet shipments are extending lifecycles and cannibalization from phablets," Ubrani said in an email, referring to large-screen smartphones suitable for streaming video. "The tablet market really soared in 2013 and 2014 as multiple vendors were able to offer low-cost, seven- to eight-inch tablets. However, as smartphone screen sizes have increased, consumers have realized that the experience of a phablet is essentially no different, or perhaps even better, than a seven- or eight-inch tablet. "And when it comes to extending lifecycles, people are still using three- or four-year-old tablets as the device is still able to do all the basic tasks. Vendors like Apple have also done a very good job at supporting their older devices with upgrades to the latest OS." Ubrani said the Galaxy View and products like it are unlikely to buck the downward trend that has hit the global tablet market. "Often these devices are out to solve problems that don’t exist and they tend to price themselves out of the market," he said. "We’ve seen vendors create specialized devices like this for the education market or position them as 'kitchen PCs,' and none have really taken off." On the other hand, he said tablets with detachable keyboards, such as Microsoft Corp.'s Surface Pro, have great potential. "Detachables are going to be very important going forward as consumers look to replace their PCs and tablets with a single device, and also as vendors push these form factors over traditional laptops or slate tablets," he said. IDC said in its release Thursday that it expects detachables' share of the tablet market to "increase dramatically over the next 18 months." — With reporting and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and Shruti Shekar at sshekar@thewirereport.ca

Galaxy View available through Bell, but ‘not a tablet’

Broadcast | October 29, 2015

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