Report: Tablet shipments grew a modest 1% during the first quarter

The analyst firm Canalys has reported that tablet shipments grew by 1% during the first quarter compared to the same period the year before. Shipments reached 33.7 million units following four consecutive quarters of year-on-year declines.

Commenting on the news, Canalys Research Manager Himani Mukka, said:

“The tablet industry has had a positive start to 2024, and the rest of the year should bring further relief after a difficult 2023. Despite the extended period of cautious consumer spending on tablets, vendors have remained ambitious. New market entrants have kept investing in the category while the traditional heavyweights are delivering on innovation to excite customers and drive new use cases.”

Ever since tablets were made popular in their current form factor by the launch of the iPad, they have barely changed. According to Canalys, however, we will see more foldable designs and tablets that support eye-wear-free 3D content viewing which could help make these devices more popular with consumers.

Regarding the players in the market, Apple held onto its top spot with 35.6% of the market share but it actually declined 13.9% year-over-year. The following companies were Samsung (20.2%), Huawei (8.1%), Lenovo (6.3%), and Amazon (6.1%). Interestingly, Huawei performed the best with an annual growth of 70.2%, despite all the pressure it is under from Western governments. The company which suffered the most was Amazon, which saw a decline of 18.2%.

Apple’s tablet shipment hit seems to be in line with what’s going on with its smartphones. Neowin reported just a week or so ago that Apple’s phone shipments slumped by 16% during the first quarter. Notably, Apple’s shipments have held up relatively well over the last few years while others struggled.

Ever since the launch of the first iPad, tablets have found themselves sandwiched between smartphones and computers. Without a keyboard, you’re not going to be particularly productive with a tablet and at the same time you have your phone for leisure so for many people it’s a struggle seeing where tablets fit into their lives.

Source: Canalys