Vendors are taking a cautious view of the tablet market, as growth in the sector slows, according to a DigiTimes report.

Citing “sources from an upstream supply chain”, the publication said that several tier-one and tier-two vendors have “significantly reduced the number of new projects and order volumes for tablets”.

It also said that many vendors are now opting to offer only a couple of devices in the mainstream tablet sizes (7 inches to 10 inches), with a focus on convertible notebooks for screen sizes above this.

A particular challenge for smaller screen devices is cannibalisation from “phablets”, which offer the same or greater functionality, with a more portable form factor and mobile connectivity.

In addition, fierce competition for remaining buyers means that the sector is seeing pricing pressure.

This week, Samsung noted that not only has growth in the phablet sector – where it has been a driving force – impacted its tablet sales, but that also replacement demand for tablets is low.

This is unsurprising: while operator subsidies and contract cycles have created a strong upgrade culture in many markets, this is not the case for tablets, where customers are buying full-price devices.

With upgrades to tablets coming in small steps, there is little in the way of incentives for users to swap to a new device if their existing product is still working.

Analyst firm Gartner also said that it expects a “relative slowdown” in the tablet market, with a – still not unhealthy – growth of 23.9 per cent from 2013 to 2014, reaching 256 million units this year.

“The next wave of adoption will be driven by lower price points rather than superior functionality”, it said.

Interestingly, DigiTimes suggested that some vendors are shifting their focus to a new growth market – wearables.