Tablet Market Grows 20% As Apple’s Share Further Eroded

As Australian consumer electronic retailers enter the busiest period of the year with Black Friday and Christmas sales a few weeks away, there is one product category that is showing considerable growth – tablets. Worldwide tablet shipments grew 20.4% in the third quarter of 2024 to a total of 39.6 million units.

The data revealed by the research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) in its Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker shows that Apple, Samsung and Amazon are the three leading companies when it comes to tablet shipments.

Apple shipped 12.6 million units, with a modest growth of 1.4% year over year in the quarter. However, its market share has dropped considerably from 37.7% in Q3 2023 to 31.7% in Q3 2024.

Its declining market share comes although the company launched its M4-powered iPad Pro in May as well as new iPad Air and iPad Mini models. IDC noted that the new iPad Pro performed below expectations as their prices are too steep and unattractive in emerging markets. In Australia, the iPad Pro has a starting price of A$1,699 which is higher than devices with similar specs from its competitors.

Samsung meanwhile had a solid third quarter this year with 7.1 million shipments and year-over-year growth of 18.3%. It launched more premium tablets during the quarter with the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S10+ with AI features. In Q3, their low-end Galaxy A9 models drove their sales across most regions.

Amazon meanwhile re-entered the top 5 and secured the third position with shipments of 4.6 million units and year-over-year growth of 111.3%. Its market share also increased by 6 percentage points to 11.6%. The company refreshed its Fire HD 8 model with some new AI tools by the end of the quarter, and its Prime Day deals also drove tablet sales.

Rounding off the top five were Huawei and Lenovo. Huawei remained in the fourth position over the third quarter and recorded a 44.1% year-over-year growth with shipments of 3.2 million units. Its new product launches included the MatePad SE 11 which was one of its most popular products over the quarter ended September.

Lenovo moved down to the fifth position. Still, its sales grew by 14.7% year-over-year with 3 million shipment units. Sales in most regions where it retails recorded growth in the quarter. There was also significant improvement in their commercial market performance. The biggest growth came from China and Western Europe.

As IDC pointed out in its report, AI is becoming increasingly integrated into tablets. However, it’s early days for most of the manufacturers with companies such as Apple yet to roll out its Apple Intelligence more extensively across global markets. But with AI becoming more prevalent among a greater number of tablets, it may result in an increasing number of consumers agreeing to upgrade their existing devices.

“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,” said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers.

“As AI features and applications grow, more consumers will prioritise these advanced capabilities in their next purchase.”