Worldwide tablet shipments reached 33 million in the third quarter (Q3), marking a 7 per cent annual decline, a new report has shown, with Apple leading the chart.
Apple shipped 12.5 million iPads for a 38 per cent market share in Q3. Second-placed Samsung shipped 6.2 million tablets, down 6 per cent while Lenovo shipped 2.6 million tablets to hold onto third place.
Huawei and Xiaomi took fourth and fifth place, respectively, with the latter making its debut in the top five with the highest growth of the major vendors, according to the report by market research firm Canalys.
Chromebook shipments fell 19 per cent to 3.5 million in Q3 because much of the back-to-school inventory cleared through the channel.
Acer regained first place in Chromebook shipments with a relatively low drop of 16 per cent compared with Q2, but shipments still fell 17 per cent year-over-year.
Meanwhile, second-placed HP faced a larger sequential drop of 57% after previously taking the top spot. Dell maintained third place, with its Q3 shipments roughly matching HP’s. Lenovo and Asus took the final places in the top five rankings.
“With inventories stabilising, tablet shipments are starting to increase sequentially. This bodes well for the upcoming holiday season, where continued discounting and new product launches are set to drive the market back to year-on-year growth, ” said Himani Mukka, Research Manager at Canalys.
Additionally, tablet vendors must start prioritising the integration of generative AI capabilities into their devices to maintain a competitive edge.
“Leading players Apple and Samsung have already signalled greater intent around incorporating AI experiences across their hardware portfolios, ” Mukka added.
Chromebooks’ growth trajectory rapidly changed for the worse in Q3 as shipments fell 40 per cent quarter on quarter.
“Google recently announced Chromebook Plus laptops, with double the performance of standard Chromebooks but still firmly priced for the low end, ” said Kieren Jessop, analyst at Canalys.