Lenovo contributes 20.3% market share in the overall tablet market: CMR

According to CMR's India Quarterly Tablet PC Market Review, Lenovo contributed 20.3 percent market share in the overall tablet market and witnessed 94 percent growth in 3Q CY2017 when compared to 2Q CY2017 in terms of unit shipments.

The report said that Lenovo's growth in 3Q CY2017 was primarily because of a plan of distribution of its Tablets towards NAMO E-Tab Tablet Sahay Yojana under the Gujarat government in August 2017.

A considerable amount of growth came from the corporates also as they ramp up their digital transformation and customer experience initiatives and enable employees on the go with tablets. Lenovo's tablet model Tab3 7 inch was the highest contributor with 13 percent market share in overall tablet market in terms of Unit Shipments

Acer captured the second spot with 16 percent market share during this period in terms of unit shipments.

Meanwhile, In 3Q CY2017, 0.94 million Tablets were shipped in India, recording 38 percent growth over the previous quarter. However, Tablet PC market recorded 4 percent YoY decline.

"Over a period of time, Tablet PCs are finding improved adoption in Corporate as well as Government segment. Education was the key segment for B2B sales and the key driving force behind the growth in 3Q 2017. Tablet PC in consumer space are sidelined by Phablets (Mobiles with 5.5" & above screen size) due to lack of product differentiation and compelling use cases." stated Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst, CMR.

In terms of unit shipments, 4G, 3G & Wi-Fi based tablets witnessed a QoQ growth of 53 percent, 44 percent & 22 percent respectively in 3Q CY2017, whereas 2G based tablets witnessed a decline of 15 percent in 3Q CY2017 from the previous quarter.

Talking about OS, Android continued to be the top OS choice with 92 percent market share due to the increased availability of affordable Android-based tablets in the market. The Android market grew 43 percent from the last quarter, while iOS grew only 5 percent and its market share remained steady at 8 percent similar to the last quarter.

The Tablet market within the price range of Rs 5-10K witnessed a huge growth of 160 percent than the tablets in the price range of Rs 10-20K and Rs 20-30K which saw 18 percent and 59 percent QoQ growth respectively in 3Q CY2017.

Recently Gujarat government has distributed Acer tablets among the 1st year college students which have contributed to the growth of Rs 5-10K tablets. On the other hand, the price category of less than Rs 5K witnessed a sharp sequential decline of 27 Percent in 3Q CY2017.

The ongoing digitization programmes of the government involve pushing educational institutes to adopt newer technologies will continue to boost the tablet market to a great extent. A strong demand will also come from the B2B segments due to the digital transformation initiatives of businesses, while consumer demand entirely depends on the promotional activities and some exciting features.

Menka Kumari, Analyst at CMR, said, "With the cost of 4G data going down, the demands for 4G devices will significantly increase in the coming quarters, this will increase the affordability of 4G tablets. Hence the demand for low-cost tablets is likely to grow significantly in the coming year also."