Global tablet PC shipments grow by 20% in Q3

(IDC website)

Global tablet shipments surged by more than 20 percent in the third quarter, reaching nearly 40 million units, according to data released Monday by market research firm IDC. Total shipments for the period hit 39.6 million.

Apple maintained its lead in the tablet market with 12.6 million units shipped, accounting for a 31.7 percent market share. However, Apple’s shipment growth remained modest at only 1.4 percent compared to the third quarter of 2023, which led its market share to fall to 31.7 percent from 37.7 percent.

IDC said that while sales of the newly released iPad Air model for the back-to-school season contributed to Apple’s results, the high price of the new iPad Pro limited its appeal in emerging markets.

Samsung took second place with 7.1 million units shipped, up 18.3 percent from last year. Despite this growth, Samsung’s market share dipped slightly by 0.3 percentage points to 17.9 percent.

Amazon climbed to third place in the market as its Kindle shipments more than doubled, surging by 111.3 percent from a year ago. This growth boosted Amazon’s market share to 11.6 percent, up from fifth place last year.

Lenovo, previously third in the third quarter of last year with an 8.0 percent share, fell to fifth place with a 7.6 percent share. Huawei held steady in fourth, shipping 3.3 million units—a 44.1 percent increase on-year—retaining the same position as last year.

IDC projects further expansion of AI within the tablet sector in the coming years. While AI is increasingly integrated into the tablet market, IDC highlighted that most AI features, aside from Microsoft’s Windows Copilot+, are still in the early stages of development.