Global tablet market slump persists in Q3: IDC

NEW DELHI: Global tablet market continued its slump as vendors shipped 43 million units in the third quarter of 2016, a year-on-year decline of 14.7 per cent, research firm IDC said.

In contrast, shipment was up sequentially in the reported period at 9.8 per cent over the second quarter of 2016 as the bigger vendors prepared for the holiday quarter, IDC said in its preliminary data report.

Low-cost (sub-$200) detachables also reached an all-time high as vendors flooded the market.

"Unfortunately, many low-cost detachables also deliver a low-cost experience. The race to the bottom is something we have already experienced with slates and it may prove detrimental to the market in the long run as detachables could easily be seen as disposable devices rather than potential PC replacements," IDC Senior Research Analyst Jitesh Ubrani said.

Apple led the market with shipment of 9.3 million units and 21.5 per cent share in the July-September quarter. Samsung and Amazon followed in the tally with shipments of 6.5 million units (15.1 per cent share) and 3.1 million units (7.3 per cent share), respectively.

Lenovo and Huawei ranked fourth and fifth in the list with 2.7 million units and 2.4 million units respectively.