Apple’s iPad continued to hold the largest share of the tablet market in the beginning quarter of 2021, as the market segment grew by more than 50% over the course of a year.
The total number of tablets sold reached 39.9 million units in the first quarter of 2021. This represents a year-over-year increase of 55.2 percent, according to new figures from the analyst firm IDC. IDC says that the kind of growth that it has seen hasn’t been seen since 2013.
Apple dominated the tablet market as a tablet maker. The Cupertino company sold an estimated 12.7 million iPad units in the first quarter, an increase of 64.3 percent year-over-year. Apple now controls 31.7 percent of the market, up from 30 percent in the first quarter of 2020.
Samsung was second in the rankings, with an estimate of 8 million tablet deliveries and 20 percent of the market. Lenovo was in third place with 3.8 million units shipped, Amazon was in fourth place with 3.5 million shipments, and Huawei was in fifth place with 2.7 million shipments.
“While the rollout of vaccines and businesses returning to work could slow the trend of working from home, we’re still a long way from returning to “normal working conditions,” and the need for tablets, specifically detachables, is likely to last for some time,” said IDC research analyst Anuroopa Nataraj.
IDC reports that tablets used to have been the preferred choice for education, but Chromebooks are rapidly getting better in the U.S., Western Europe, and most recently, Japan.
Apple does not report individual unit sales of its products. However, the company announced at its most recent earnings conference that iPad revenue increased by 78.7 percent to $7.8 billion in March.
The company also revealed two updated iPad Pro models equipped with M1 chips, as well as a brand-newly developed Liquid Retina XDR display on the 12.9-inch model. The preorders began on Friday, and the tablets will be available in the second quarter of May.
idc 39.9m q1 apple yoy samsung
idc yoy 39.9m q1 12.7m samsung