Apple grows its global market share for tablets though sales are down

Worldwide tablet shipments were down 8.8% year over year in the third quarter of 2022 (3Q22), totaling 38.6 million units, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

Apple’s iPad continues to dominate the global tablet market, though sales in 3Q22 were down 1.1% year-over-year. Apple sold 142 million iPads in the quarter for 37.5% of the market. That compares to sales of 14.7% and 35.6% market share in the third quarter of 2021.

Most other tablet makers are faring worse than Apple. Year-over-year, ,Samsung sales are down 4%, Amazon sales are down 8.1%, and Lenovo sales are down 36.9%. Of the top five tablet makers, only Huawei increased its market share year-over-year, growing 2%.

3Q22 was the fifth straight quarter of decline for the tablet market. Chromebook shipments also struggled in 3Q22, falling to 4.3 million units and a year-over-year decline of 34.4%. According to IDC, both markets have now shifted from supply constrained industries to ones that are demand challenged as consumer and education spending has slowed in the face of economic uncertainties.

The research group says that Chinese vendors continue to do well in emerging markets where there is low-end demand. Sanctions from many vendors also enabled Chinese vendors like Huawei to perform well in the Russian market. Meanwhile, the emergence of low-priced Chinese manufacturers like Realme, Xiaomi, Oppo and others, has fueled strong competition in the lower range devices. However, ICD says these gains still couldn’t offset the decline experienced by the main tablet vendors.

“After massive growth in 2020 and 2021, a decline in the tablet market was expected in 2022. The market is now experiencing not only a slowdown in demand, but also some strong macro-economic headwinds. Even though most tablets (Android) and Chromebooks are lower cost, we’re now seeing buyer concerns even at the low end. This is largely driven by these rising economic concerns,” says Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. “However, tablets have found many more use cases since the pandemic, from their role in the workspace to both in-person and remote learning, entertainment, and even digital transformations across various verticals.”