Tablet market set for decline as Covid vaccination efforts gather momentum

Market decline arrested by temporary trend towards home working and education

Trade

iPad Pro

30 March 2021

2020 saw an arresting of the decline in tablet sales but progress is unlikely to be replicated this year as offices and schools return to normal, according to to data presented by AksjeBloggen.com.

Demand for tablets has consistently fallen behind smartphones in recent years. According to Statista, the global tablet market was worth $44.6 billion in 2016, falling to $39.89 billion three years later. At the same time the smartphone market grew in value from €439.9 billion in 2016 to €522 billion in 2018 before declining to €409.1 billion in 2020.

The past 12 months, however, saw a year-on-year growth in tablet sales with revenues rising to $39.91 billion.

Apple still tops

While the value of the tablet market has bucked expectations, the spread of dominant brands fails to deliver the unexpected.

Data from IDC shows shows Apple remains the leading vendor in the global tablet market, with 53.2 million shipments in 2020, up from 49.9 million in 2019. However, statistics show Apple’s market share dropped to 32.5% last year, compared to 34.6% in 2019.

Samsung retained the number two position and recorded impressive 44% shipment growth last year. In 2019, the South Korean tech giant shipped 21.7 million tablets worldwide. This figure surged to 31.3 million amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, Samsung also launched the Galaxy Tab S6 5G, making the company the first vendor to introduce 5G in tablets. Statistics also show that Samsung’s market share rose from 15% in 2019 to 19.1% in 2020.

Huawei hit 9.8% market share and 16 million shipments last year, up from 14.8 million in 2019.

However, Lenovo, as the fourth-largest notebook vendor globally, witnessed the most impressive sales growth amid the Covid-19 crisis. Even with the ongoing global crisis, the company shipped 14.1 million tablets in 2020, a 66% increase in a year. Also, Lenovo’s market share rose to 8.6% last year, up from 5.9% in 2019.

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