Apple still leads the global tablet market despite Amazon's amazing quarter
The global tablet market had a solid third quarter this year with shipments of the device rising a strong 20.4% year-over-year to 39.6 million units. Part of the reason for the strong increase was the poor numbers that the tablet market had last year. 2023 was the first year that Apple went without introducing a new iPad since introducing the first one in 2010.
So far this year Apple has unveiled two new iPad Pro models, both with OLED displays, and both powered by the M4 chipset. Also released this year were two iPad Air (2024) models both equipped with the M2 chipset. Apple also added a new 13-inch variant to the iPad Air (2024); that line now has 11-inch and 13-inch options, same as the iPad Pro, for those who want a large-screen iPad but don't want to pay top dollar for an OLED display. Just last month the iPad mini (A17 Pro) was unveiled.
According to IDC, the iPad remained at the top of the tablet market as Apple shipped 12.6 million tablets during Q3. The small 1.4% annual gain was helped by Back to School purchases of the new iPad mini. Apple's market share declined by six percentage points to 31.7% from 37.7% during the same quarter last year.
Samsung had a good quarter with year-over-year gains of 18.3% in the number of tablets delivered during Q3. As good as this sounds, it still trailed overall tablet shipments of 20.4% during the quarter which explains why Sammy's global market share in the tablet industry declined from 18.2% to 17.9%. The quarter saw Samsung release new premium slates such as the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S10+ with AI features. Q3 sales were driven by the low-end Galaxy Tab A9 models.
In third place, with 4.6 million tablets delivered during the third quarter, was Amazon. The company more than doubled the number of tablets it shipped during the quarter (up 111.3%). Amazon's global tablet market share rose five percentage points from 6.6% to 11.6% as the Fire HD 8 model was refreshed with AI capabilities. Most of Amazon's Q3 2024 tablet sales came from purchases made during Prime Day.
"There are several appealing opportunities for vendors to increase their presence in the tablet market - collaboration with educational institutions, entertainment and gaming, cross device connectivity, integrations in healthcare and many more. Embracing AI-powered features to enhance user experience will facilitate growth across these areas. Recent innovations in AI have begun to attract consumers willing to pay a premium price. As AI features and applications grow, more consumers will prioritize these advanced capabilities in their next purchase."-Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers
Huawei finished fourth after generating an outstanding 44.1% year-over-year gain in Q3 tablet deliveries which was more than twice the rate that the global tablet market grew at during the quarter. The Chinese manufacturer shipped 3.3 million slates during the three months and the company's worldwide tablet market share rose from 6.9% during the third quarter last year to 8.2% this year.
Apple continues to lead the global tablet market while Amazon more than doubles shipments. | Image credit-IDC
And rounding out the top five was Lenovo. The company underperformed the tablet market during the third quarter by shipping 14.7% more tablets from August through October. Global market share declined from 8% to 7.6% as shipments hit 3 million tablets for the third quarter.
Overall, IDC says 39.6 million tablets were shipped worldwide during Q3, up from the 32.9 million delivered during last year's third quarter.
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