Fourth quarter iPad sales the best since quarter four of 2014

The holiday quarter brought continued strength to tablet sales, with shipments hitting an all-time high of 52.8 million units, for a 2020 total of 160.6 million units and 28% growth over 2019, according to Canalys. 

Apple furthered its dominance in the tablet market with quarter four shipments growing 40% to 19.2 million, its best iPad performance since the fourth quarter of 2014, adds the research group. 

Samsung maintained second place in the market with 9.9 million tablets shipped, up 41% from quarter four of 2019. Amazon climbed to third place on the back of strong holiday season demand, shipping 6.5 million tablets. Lenovo was the fastest growing vendor in quarter four, increasing sell-in volume by 125% to reach 5.6 million units. Huawei was the only vendor in the top 5 to see shipments decline year-on-year.

“The growth momentum enjoyed by tablets shows just how important easy access to computing power has become in the current time,” says Canalys Analyst Ishan Dutt. “Their versatility across, not just different form factors and price points, but also connectivity options, make them an ideal device across a variety of use-cases, from simple slates for e-learning and content consumption all the way to high-performance detachables for productivity users who are adapting to spending a larger proportion of time at home.”