The worldwide tablet market declined 13.5% during the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18) as global shipments fell to 33 million, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. Only Apple and China-based Huawei bucked the trend.
Apple’s lead continued unabated. The launch of a newer iPad towards the end of the first quarter, combined with improvements to the OS and the renewed push into Education, seems to be paying off for the company, according to IDC. The tech giant sold 11.5 million units for 0.9% year-over-year growth.
“The detachable market is at a crucial stage as it has been driven primarily by premium products from Microsoft and Apple and growth has slowed in recent months,” says Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. “Though consumers and businesses alike have shown interest in the detachable form factor, those operating on tighter budgets have had very few options available to them and hence some have opted for traditional PCs. However, with the launch of the Surface Go, Chrome OS-based detachables, and hopefully a more affordable iPad Pro in the future, the detachable category still has a bright future, provided the performance and software lines up with users’ expectations.”
