Research
Tablet Market Sees Modest Growth as Apple Maintains Lead
According to a new
preliminary report from market research firm IDC, shipments of
tablets reached 40.5 million units in the second quarter of 2021, up
4.2 percent over the same period last year — modest growth compared with
the 68.6%
surge in Chromebooks in the same period.
"Opportunities in the education market are still ample for both
tablets and Chromebooks. Online learning has gained rapid traction
and has pushed forward the digital revolution in the learning space,"
said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's
Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, in a prepared statement.
"While there isn't a single solution globally, many emerging
markets continue to ramp up use of Android tablets while schools in
some developed markets like the USA and Canada lean more toward
Chromebooks. That said, there has also been a recent uprising of
Chromebooks in areas of Europe, as well as a few Asian countries as
schools start opening up to platform change."
Apple was the leader in the quarter, capturing 31.9 percent of the market on
12.9 million units (up 3.5 percent from the same period last year). That
market share is down just slightly from 32.1 percent in Q2 2020.
Samsung's tablet shipments grew 13.3 percent year over year, reaching 8
million units. Samsung's market share climbed 1.6 percentage points
to 19.6 percent.
Lenovo made even grater gains, climbing 64.5 percent in total shipments to
4.7 million units. Lenovo captured 11.6 percent of the market, up from 7.4 percent in Q2 2020.
Amazon grew 20.3 percent to 4.3 million units, capturing 10.7 percent of the
market. That's up from a market share of 9.3 percent in Q2 2020.
Fifth-place Huawei sold off its Honor business and lost significant
market share during the quarter as a result. Hwawei shipped 2.1
million units, down 53.7 percent from Q2 2020. Market share declined from
11.5 percent to 5.1 percent.
All other tablet manufacturers combined shipped 8.5 million units.
Market share was essentially flat for them.
For more information, visit IDC's
Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.
About the Author
David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 29-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.
He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEDavidNagel (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).
