Despite intense economic hardship related to COVID-19 quarantine orders, consumer and commercial customers went on a tablet buying spree to support work/learn-from-home initiatives. And Apple’s iPad was the clear winner with quarterly growth of 34% year-over-year.
The tablet supply chain almost fully recovered by April/May, which contributed to a 17% year-on-year increase in tablet shipments in quarter two of 2020, according to Strategy Analytics’ latest report. Back-to-school demand could further boost the tablet market in the fall and looking long-term, tablet sales could see an extended resurgence due to lower price points if remote work and school options remain post-pandemic, adds the research group.
“New products played an important part in this quarter’s tablet success as well. Apple’s newest iPad Pro models sold very well as consumers needed devices with keyboards to get work done at home,” says Eric Smith, director, Connected Computing, Strategy Analytics. “Microsoft’s fresh Surface Pro, Surface Book, and Surface Go devices gave it an advantage over competitors in the Windows Detachable segment, which have been more focused on updating their notebooks during the commercial refresh. Amazon released the next generation of Fire HD 8 tablets in the middle of the quarter to great success, taking advantage of a captive audience in online retail while brick-and-mortar retail traffic ground to a halt.”
Apple sold 14.3 million iPads in the second quarter of 2020 compared to 10.7 million in quarter two of 2019. The iPad now has 33% of the global tablet market.
