Last updated: February 06, 2023, 7:59 PM IST
iPads are still the market leader
Remote work and virtual schools have increased demand for tablets over the past two years, but the market now appears to be stabilizing.
Tablet sales have fallen again in 2022 as the market stabilizes after the growth stimulus caused by the pandemic. Shipments are the best barometer of demand in an industry, and in this case, brands have seen demand fall, causing them to ship fewer units.
The IDC report through Q4 2022 clearly shows this trend, and even then Apple has the leading position in the tablet segment, which is not surprising.
Samsung comes in second, but the difference in the units shipped by both giants is quite large to even consider it a match. Apple owns the tablet space with more than 49 percent market share with the iPad lineup, which now has about four models for buyers. In fact, Apple and Samsung are the only brands to grow in this sector during this period. IDC’s report includes Amazon with Kindle Fire, Huawei and Lenovo as the other brands in the top 5. Xiaomi, Oppo and more, among others, are among the others on the list with a registered market share of 18 percent. While Apple accounts for almost half of the tablet segment, Samsung has a share of about 16 percent. The following three brands have a total share of 15 percent, showing the gap between the top and the rest.
The growth that the tablet segment has achieved in recent quarters has been attributed to the pandemic, which forced not only people to work from home, but also schools to work virtually, which greatly increased the demand for the product.
That demand is down, consistent with the pre-pandemic scenario, but it seems Apple’s ploy to have more SKUs in the lineup at different price points has worked in its favor. You have two standard iPads, the iPad Air and the iPad Pro. Samsung has also tried a similar formula with the Galaxy Tab range, adding a premium Ultra model with support and stylus and all.
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