The tablet was to be the salvation of the PC industry. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) undermined those hopes with the success of its iPad. It appears that the prospects that tablets will help the industry under any circumstances has faded further, as sales increases have slowed considerably.

Research firm IDC reported:

Based on a greater decline in demand than predicted in the first quarter and concerns that tablets and 2-in-1s will face additional market challenges the rest of the year, International Data Corporation (IDC) has lowered its 2014 worldwide tablet plus 2-in-1 forecast to 245.4 million units, down from the previous forecast of 260.9 million units. The new forecast represents a 12.1% year-over-year growth rate, which is notably lower than the 51.8% year-over-year growth of 2013.

Among the reasons given is that people are keeping their current tablets longer, a problem that plagued the PC industry for years. One of the reasons behind this may be that processing power on most tablets is strong enough that trading up has little value to people who use their devices primarily for e-mail and Internet surfing.

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IDC gave more detail for adjusting its figures:

“Two major issues are causing the tablet market to slow down. First, consumers are keeping their tablets, especially higher-cost models from major vendors, far longer than originally anticipated. And when they do buy a new one they are often passing their existing tablet off to another member of the family,” said Tom Mainelli, Program Vice President, Devices & Displays at IDC. “Second, the rise of phablets — smartphones with 5.5-inch and larger screens — are causing many people to second-guess tablet purchases as the larger screens on these phones are often adequate for tasks once reserved for tablets.”

The smartphone has quickly become the computing device of choice. However, some analysts believe sales of these will slow as well. The consumer electronics industry may have run out of growth vehicles.

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