• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, February 2, 2016

Once considered the heir apparent to everything from glossy magazines to laptop computers, slate tablets are fast losing their place in consumers’ lives.

Over the past year, in fact, total shipments of slates plummeted by more than 20%, according to new data from International Data Corporation’s worldwide quarterly tablet tracker.

Relatively speaking, detachable tablets -- the ones that come with removable keyboards -- are faring better. Boosted by the iPad Pro, the segment saw a record shipment of 8.1 million devices, during the period.

But those gains were hardly enough to offset an overall decline in tablet shipments last year.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, some 65.9 million tablets shipped -- which was down nearly 14% year-over-year, according to IDC. Total shipments for 2015 reached 206.8 million -- which was down 10.1% year-over-year.

Worse yet, market leaders appear to be suffering most from the tablet’s decline. Despite its entry into the detachable market, Apple suffered a 24.8% decline in tablet shipment in the fourth quarter, year-over-year.

What explains the relative rise of detachables amid a mostly gloomy tablet market?

As has long been suspected, most consumers simply don’t have the budgets for a personal computer -- whether it’s a desktop or laptop -- a tablet, and a smartphone.

“One of the biggest reasons why detachables are growing so fast is because end users are seeing those devices as PC replacements,” Jean Philippe Bouchard, a research director at IDC, notes in the new report.

To that point, consumers are increasingly opting for one oversized smartphone rather than a smaller phone and a tablet. As such, “phablets” are expected to emerge as the dominant form factor by October of next year, according to a recent forecast from Flurry.