Apple Stays Ahead As Tablet Shipments Declined By 14.7% In Q1 2016

Market research firm IDC has shared the latest numbers on the tablet market and once again it’s a story of declining demand. The numbers show that tablet shipments were down 14.7 percent in the first quarter of this year when compared to the same time last year. Despite the decline, Apple remains the leader in the global tablet market.

Even though the first quarter is generally viewed as a slow one for manufacturers, the fact remains that customers just aren’t buying as many tablets as they used to, which is why we’re seeing a double-digit decline in shipments. Most major tablet manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, and Lenovo all saw negative year-over-year growth. Positive growth was only posted by Huawei and Amazon.

IDC expects that repeat customers will only purchase a new tablet once their old one is obsolete, and even then it doesn’t expect many customers for high-end tablets like the iPad. It also predicts that manufacturers will find it harder to sell mid-range Android tablets as demand in the market for Android tablets continues to decline.

Despite troubling times for the tablet market as a whole, Apple has retained its lead as it accounted for 25.9 percent of the tablet market share in Q1 2016 with 10.3 million units shipped. Samsung came in second place with 15.2 percent of the market and 6.0 million units shipped down from 27.2 percent and 18 percent respectively when compared to the same time last year.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Tablets
Tags: idc, iPad