According to preliminary data from the latest global quarterly personal computing device tracker released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), global tablet shipments in the second quarter of 2024 increased by a significant 22.1% year-on-year to a total of 34.4 million units. This performance was strong compared to the same period last year, mainly due to product updates from several top manufacturers, driven by market replacement cycles, and inventory replenishment. Despite this, the current level of sales is only comparable to the pre-pandemic level and has not yet reached the unprecedented heights set during the pandemic. Compared to 32.5 million units shipped in the same period in 2019, the market performance in the second quarter of this year was helped by Apple's new product launches and the popularity of Samsung and Huawei detachable tablets.
Among the company's highlights for the second quarter of 2024, Apple topped the list with 12.3 million units shipped, up 18.2% year-over-year. The launch of the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air and iPad Pro has helped Apple grow the market. Despite competition from local brands such as Huawei and Xiaomi in the Chinese market, iPad sales in the rest of the world have increased.
Samsung came in second with 6.9 million units shipped, up 18.6% year-on-year. Despite no major new product launches, Samsung was able to grow shipments thanks to commercial deployments and a good comparison base in the same period last year.
Chart: Top five tablet companies, global shipments, market share and year-over-year growth in the second quarter of 2024 (Source: Semiconductor Digest)
Lenovo ranked third with 2.5 million units shipped, up 16.7% year-on-year. Notably, Lenovo's detachable tablets are growing at 39.7% per year, far outpacing the 11.7% growth rate of its traditional tablets.
Huawei ranked fourth with 2.3 million units shipped, up 40.3% year-on-year, and its performance was particularly prominent in the quarter. Huawei's new tablet, the MatePad 11.5S, received a positive response from the market, and sales growth was further boosted by a promotional campaign in China in June.
Xiaomi followed with 2 million units shipped, up 94.7% year-on-year, ranking fifth in the quarter. Xiaomi has achieved significant growth in the Chinese market and the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) and the European market, especially in Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other countries.
"The market performance in the second quarter of 2024 shows that the tablet market has gradually emerged from the impact of the pandemic, and the renewal cycle and growth in emerging markets are expected to continue to drive the market recovery in the near term," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst at IDC Mobile and Consumer Device Tracking. As new entrants look to global expansion, long-term market leaders continue to focus on technological innovations, such as the iPad Pro's OLED display, to meet the needs of the premium market and take advantage of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. The long-term growth of the market will depend on the ability of manufacturers to manufacture innovative and differentiated products in the tablet space.”
