Apple continues to lead the tablet market in Q3: IDC

According to a new report by International Data Corporation (IDC), the worldwide tablet market declined 8.6 percent during the third quarter of 2018 (3Q18) as global shipments fell to 36.4 million.

However, Cupertino based tech giant Apple continued to lead the tablet market with nearly double the shipments of its nearest competitor.

The refreshed $329 iPad with Pencil support that launched in late March continued to drive volume.

IDC said slate tablets accounted for the majority of the market with 31.6 million units, down 7.9 percent from the previous year. Detachable tablets also declined, down 13.1 percent from the previous year, to account for 4.8 million unit shipments.

"The tablet market is more like the traditional PC market than ever before," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers.

Ubrani said, "Not only do these markets move in sync with each other but the decreasing margins and overall decline, particularly in slate tablets, has led to the top 5 companies capturing a larger share as many small vendors have exited the space or simply treat the tablet market with a much lower priority. Even among the top 5, it is essentially Apple and to a lesser extent Samsung that continue to invest heavily in product innovation and marketing. This has helped the two companies to set themselves apart from the rest."

It said Samsung maintained its position as the second leading tablet manufacturer despite a year-on-year decline. Its detachable portfolio grew modestly, and Amazon.com became the third largest tablet manufacturer in the third quarter.

Huawei at the fourth spot was the only company among the top 5 to deliver year-over-year tablet shipments growth in Q3 2018.

Lenovo rounded out the top 5 with 2.3 million units shipped in the third quarter, a decline of nearly 25 percent compared to a year ago.