Global tablet market shrinks: iPad sales decline but still dominate

IDC analysts said that Apple continues to lead the global tablet market, although iPad sales fell in the latest quarterly earnings, but compared with the 8.6% decline of the overall market in the third quarter, the iPad's decline is not large.

Apple announced in its quarterly earnings report on Friday that it sold 9.7 million iPads in the previous quarter, a decrease from the 10.3 million units in the third quarter of 2017. Despite a drop of about 6%, this score is still much higher than other competitors on the market.

According to IDC data, Apple's share of the tablet market was 26.6%, up from 25.9% in the same period last year. The increase in Apple's market share was attributed to the decline of other competitors in the market.

IDC wrote: "The iPad, which was launched at the end of March this year continue to drive the iPad's overall sales, although it can't maintain its growth since the third quarter of 2017".

On the IDC list, Apple is still far ahead of its main rival Samsung. The Korean giant achieved 5.3 million tablet sales in the third quarter of 2018, with a market share of 14.6%. This figure is lower than the 6 million in the same period last year, and the share is slightly lower than last year's 15%.

“The tablet market is more like the traditional PC market than ever before,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst. "Although it has been ranked in the top five, Apple and Samsung continue to invest heavily in product innovation and marketing, which helps the two companies to distinguish themselves from other companies".