Tablet sales plummet despite remote working rise
While the demand for laptops and computers has grown amid companies’ efforts to set up remote working during the coronavirus lockdown, tablet sales continue to decline.
New figures from analyst firm IDC found that even though there was a brief pandemic-driven rise in the demand for tablet PCs, supply chain disruption triggered by the closure of manufacturing units in China meant a squeeze in supply.
According to IDC, tablet shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) recorded 8.8 million units for the first quarter of 2020, a 9.6 percent year-on-year decline.
Diminishing market
According to IDC’s EMEA tablet sales data for Q1 2020, Samsung still leads the segment with a market share of over 24.5 percent, followed closely by Apple at 23.8 percent.
Huawei, Lenovo and Microsoft filled the remaining top five spots, with 12.3 percent, 7.6 percent and 4 percent market share, respectively.
An analysis of these figures with those for the corresponding period last year shows that tablet sales declined at Samsung, Apple and Huawei. While Apple’s market share has increased marginally, the shrinkage in the overall market size meant the US technology major suffered a 9.3 percent YoY decline in sales. Out of the top five, only Microsoft and Lenovo registered an uptick in sales, with the former enjoying an increase in both market share and total shipments.
IDC anticipates that the economic impact of the coronavirus lockdown will likely further impact tablet sales in the second half of this year. The firm believes that even though remote working and education are a growing trend, large-screen smartphones continue to eat into the market share of tablet PCs.
Helena Ferreira, a research analyst at IDC, noted that the shutdown of plants in China caused disruptions to manufacturing and logistics supply chains, “meaning a spike in demand could not be met.”
She added that various tablet makers like Samsung, Lenovo and Apple saw higher demand for tablet PCs, but the recent supply-side contraction has “created backlogs for the coming quarters”.
Via : ZDNet
