Research analyst firm IDC has reduced its tablet shipment growth estimates for the next five years and has called the iPad the “weakest link” of the market. 

Tablet shipments declined for the first time in Q4, 2014 since their introduction with iPad shipments declining by 4.6% on a YoY basis.

While IDC expects tablet shipments to grow for the next five years, it expects the YoY growth to slow down greatly. For 2015, IDC expects global tablet shipments to rise to 234.5 million units — a modest growth of 2.1% compared to 2014.

The analyst firm predicts that Android tablets will remain the market leader in terms of shipments for the next five years, and iPad — the “weakest link” — market share will decline to 23% by 2019 from its current market share of 27.6%. Surprisingly, IDC expects Microsoft’s market share to triple from 5.1% to 14.1% by 2019 thanks to Windows 10.

“Microsoft is doing a lot of good things right now and we believe the launch of Windows 10 later this year will not only have a significant impact on Microsoft’s share of the market, but on the industry as a whole,” said Bouchard, Research Director, Tablets. “There is an appetite for a platform that can provide a productivity experience that remains consistent across multiple form factors and device types, and we believe Microsoft is well positioned to capture some of that demand.”

It has long been rumored that Apple is planning on releasing a 12.9-inch iPad Pro to stop the declining sales of the iPad and increase its traction in the enterprise market.