For the first time ever, the tablet market for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) has seen a year-on-year decline in the first quarter of this year.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC),  only 3.83 million units were sold in the region, which translates to a 5.8 per cent decline – and one country had a large effect on that.

Turkey is the region’s biggest tablet market and shipments to that country were halved in the first quarter, when compared to the same period last year.

“The major reason behind the decline of the Turkish market was the discontinuation of deliveries for the massive FATIH education project, which had a huge impact on commercial demand for tablets in the country during Q1,” explained the IDC’s Fouad Charakla.

The decline in tablet sales in the region is not entirely Turkey’s fault, though, as weaker exchange rates also played a role.

The market is expected to bounce back slightly, however, and the IDC predicts that the year should close on a higher note: it estimates that shipments will increase by 5.8 per cent to a total of 17.66 million units. That is still a far cry from where it was a year ago, as 2014 had an overall growth of 41.6 per cent.

“In the longer run, the tablet market is expected to continue growing at a healthy pace over the coming years, cannibalising some of the demand that currently exists for personal computers,” the IDC explained.

Tablet shipments are expected to increase 7.0 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively, in 2016 and 2017.