Tablets finally pass
pre-pandemic tallies

Tablets are back. Worldwide tablet shipments recorded year-over-year growth of 22.1% in the second quarter of 2024 (2Q24). The total tablets shipped came to 34.4-million units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. This means they passed the pre-pandemic total for the same period.

Although sales benefited from a favourable comparison to the prior year’s quarter, driven by product refreshes from many top vendors and a replacement cycle combined with inventory replenishment, the 2Q24 results compare favourably with 2Q19 when 32.5-million units were shipped.

The big push came from a product refresh from Apple and the growing popularity of detachable tablets from Samsung and Huawei.

2Q24 Company Highlights

• Apple shipped 12.3-million units and grew by 18.2% year over year in the quarter. With the launch of the 11″ and 13″ iPad Air and iPad Pro models, the company was finally able to record growth in the market. iPad volumes grew across the globe except for China, where competition from local players like Huawei and Xiaomi negatively impacted the company.
• Samsung ranked second with shipments of 6.9-million units in 2Q24, which represents year-over-year growth of 18.6%. The vendor managed to grow despite not having any major product launches. Growth mainly came from several commercial deployments and a favorable 2Q23 comparable.
• Lenovo captured the third position this quarter with year-over-year growth of 16.7% and shipments of 2.5-million units. The company’s detachable tablets recorded much higher annual growth (39.7%) than its slate tablets (11.7%).
• Huawei held the fourth position this quarter with solid year-over-year growth of 40.3% and shipments of 2.3-million units. The vendor introduced a new tablet, MatePad 11.5S, which has shown great market performance and the June online promotions in China further aided growth.
• Xiaomi finished the quarter in the fifth position. The company’s shipments grew 94.7% year over year to 2-million units. Beyond China and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), the vendor has made significant gains in the European market with impressive growth in Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and many other countries.

“The 2Q24 results signal that the market has moved beyond the pandemic. We expect the refresh cycle and growth in emerging markets to continue aiding the recovery in the near term. While new entrants to the market focus on their global expansion, long-term leaders continue to focus on improving technology (as in the case of OLED displays for iPad Pros), catering to the need for premium devices, and utilising the power of emerging technologies like AI,” said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. “Long-term gains for the market depend on the vendors’ ability to build devices that can carve a niche for tablets – one that includes innovation and differentiation.”

Table Notes:

• Data is preliminary and subject to change.
• Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the company/brand under which they are sold.
• The “Company” represents the current parent company (or holding company) for all brands owned and operated as subsidiary.