The International Data Corporation (IDC) released its Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker for the quarter that ended June 30, 2018. In the report, IDC stated the global tablet market declined 13.5% during the second quarter of 2018. Apple remained the leader with 34.9% market share, which is followed by South Korean giant Samsung with a 15.1% share. Apple shipped 11.5 million tablets in the second quarter of 2018 while Samsung shipped 5 million units. Huawei was third with 3.4 million tablet shipments and a 10.3% market share and Lenovo fourth, shipping 2 million units with 6% market share.
Huawei has had a decent run with its smartphones in Q2 2018 and the same performance reflected in the tablet segment too. Huawei had an impressive 7.7% growth (year-over-year) from the same quarter last year while Apple registered 0.9% growth.
The global shipments fell to 33 million from 38.3 million in the same quarter last year, according to IDC's report. Slate tablets accounted for the majority of the market with 28.4 million units, down 14.5% from the previous year.
Detachable tablets also declined owing to the high-profile product launches in the second quarter of 2017 and the absence of timely updates to those products in Q2 2018, as reported by IANS.
"The detachable market is at a crucial stage as it has been driven primarily by premium products from Microsoft and Apple and growth has slowed in recent months," said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst.
With the launch of the Microsoft Surface Go, Chrome OS-based detachables, and hopefully a more affordable iPad Pro in the future, the detachable category still has a bright future," added Ubrani.
"The majority of Huawei shipments continue to be in Asia/Pacific, excluding Japan, which accounted for nearly 50% of the company's total. Although Huawei's detachables shipments remain limited, they grew more than 200% in the latest quarter," said the report.
Samsung's refresh of the Galaxy Tab S-series announced on Wednesday as the Galaxy Tab S4 will boost the company's shipments in the detachable category. Huawei solidified its position as the third largest tablet manufacturer worldwide, added the report.
