The global tablet market is down by -5% Y-o-Y in Q2 2019 IDC reports, as shipments total 32.2 million units, down from the 33.9m units of Q2 2018. Apple remains leader of the tablet market, thanks to the launch of the latest iPad Air.
Apple is one of the 2 vendors in the top 5 (with the other being Amazon) to see growth in Q2 2019. iPad shipments are up by 6.1% Y-o-Y, reaching 12.3m units, while market share sees an increase of 4 percentage points over Q2 2018 to 38.1%. As mentioned earlier the iPad Air helped bring growth, particularly in detachable tablets, while shipments of the regular slate iPad are down by -7.5% Y-o-Y as they fail to maintain the momentum of upgrades seen in 2018.
Samsung retains 2nd place and manages to grow in market share (from 14.9% in Q2 2018 to 15.2% in Q2 2019), even as shipments are down by -3.1% Y-o-Y to 4.9m. IDC points out the majority of Samsung tablet shipments consist of the lower-end E and A series, even as the company remains the last bastion of premium Android tablets.
In 3rd position is Huawei with shipments reaching 3.3m, a -6.5% Y-o-Y decline. Huawei maintains share despite political headwinds, but the situation might soon change due to the rising tensions between the US and China. Amazon comes 4th with 46.3% Y-o-Y shipment growth, a very seasonal result brought about by July's Prime Day.
Rounding out the top 5 is Lenovo, with 5.8% share and -6.9% Y-o-Y decline, even as the company sees some growth in mature markets including W. Europe, the US and Japan.
