Tablet Shipments Drop 7 Percent in Second Quarter of 2015 with Apple Posting Largest Decline

Tablet vendors shipped 44.7 million units in the second quarter of 2015, a 7 percent drop compared to the same period last year when the segment notched 48 million devices sold and a 3.9 percent decline compared to the fist quarter of this year, according to a new report from International Data Corp. (IDC).

Most of the decline came at the expense of the segment leaders, with Apple and Samsung, the first and second place vendors, respectively, the only two companies in the top five to see shipments drop year over year.

Apple saw the largest decline, posting just 10.9 million sales in this year's second quarter compared to 13.3 million units during the same period last year. That's a 17.9 percent decline that accounted for a drop in market share from 27.7 percent to 24.5 percent.

Samsung's 12 percent year-over-year drop led its market share to fall from 18 to 17 percent. The company sold 7.6 million units in the most recent quarter, down from 8.6 million during the second quarter of 2014.

Lenovo held relatively steady in terms of units shipped in both quarters, improving slightly from 2.4 to 2.5 million shipments, good enough for third place and a 5.7 percent share of the market.

IDC called a statistical tie between Huawei and LG for the fourth spot. Both companies sold approximately 1.6 million tablets for the quarter. That's double Huawei's 2014 quarter two shipments of .8 million units and just more than triple LG's .5 million units shipped in the same period. Huawei captured a 3.7 percent share of the market, just edging out LG, with 3.6 percent.

"Longer life cycles, increased competition from other categories such as larger smartphones, combined with the fact that end users can install the latest operating systems on their older tablets has stifled the initial enthusiasm for these devices in the consumer market," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers at IDC, in a prepared statement. "But with newer form factors like 2-in-1s, and added productivity-enabling features like those highlighted in iOS9, vendors should be able to bring new vitality to a market that has lost its momentum."

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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