Worldwide tablet shipments reached 46 million units during the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21), posting a decline for the second time since the pandemic began in 2020, according to Strategy Analytics. The iPad saw year-over-year shipments decline 8.6%, but Apple’s tablet still has 36.6% of the tablet/Chromebook market.
Apple says the decline in sales was due to “severe” supply constraints. Those constraints are expected to improve, if not disappear, this quarter, so iPad sales should improve.
Shipments declined 11.9% year over year in 4Q21 as demand slowed, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. For the full year 2021, total tablet shipments were up 3.2% year-over-year and reached 168.8 million units, the market’s highest level since 2016.
