Strategy Analytics: Handful of Tablet Vendors Consolidate Leadership Positions in Q1 2019 as Market Falls 5%

The latest research from Strategy Analytics showed that fierce price competition has put incredible pressure on many Android tablet vendors, but a few companies stood above the rest in Q1 2019. Apple, Huawei, Amazon, and Microsoft have each found ways to press their advantage and gain market share as the rest of the market struggles to find momentum. The global tablet market declined 5% year-on-year in Q1 2019. The question remains, can more vendors break through to growth or will they continue to cede ground to the market leaders?

Eric Smith, Director – Connected Computing, said, “Amazon had an excellent post-holiday quarter on the back of several promotional discounts, pushing shipments 21% higher than a year ago. Huawei is still eating the lunch of its Android competitors, particularly in EMEA and China, growing 8% globally year-on-year. There are signs of stabilization among some vendors, including Samsung, HP, Dell, and even TCL-Alcatel. Certainly, the picture is rosier for many companies still in the tablet business when you look at revenues, which explains why competition is so heated.”

Chirag Upadhyay, Senior Research Analyst, added, “Most Windows Detachable 2-in-1 vendors are targeting the premium tier for enterprise users to make higher profits but a crowded market prevents all vendors from growing at once, especially now that Apple is competing strongly with three iPad Pro models in this price tier. As a result of taking focus off of the larger consumer market, Windows market share actually fell by 1 percentage point year-on-year to 14%. Windows shipments fell 13% year-on-year to 5.0 million units in Q1 2019 from 5.7 million in Q1 2018. Shipments declined 29% from the previous quarter on low seasonality. Microsoft fully owns the leadership position in Windows Detachable 2-in-1s with the release of the lower cost Surface Go and a refreshed Surface Pro 6 all in the last half of 2018. This is the fifth straight quarter of year-on-year shipment and revenue gains for Microsoft.”

Eric Smith continued, “Apple iOS shipments (sell-in) grew 9% year-on-year to 9.9 million units in Q1 2019, pushing its worldwide market share to 27% of the Tablet market. Apple added 3 percentage points to its market share year-over-year. The new iPad Pro portfolio had momentum this quarter, boosting ASPs to $490 this quarter from $451 in Q1 2018. Refreshing iPad Pro and MacBook Air at the same time plays into Apple's strategy to target different user bases with different computing solutions. Education still represents a good opportunity for Apple as schools often have PCs and tablets available for different use cases.”