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IDC: Tablet Shipments Down, Smartphone Shipments Up

For the past several years tablet sales have declined while at the same time smartphone sales increased, and that trend continued last quarter.

IDC reported last week that tablet shipments were down 8.5% in the first quarter, and about a week before that they said smartphone shipments were up 4.3%.

Tablet shipments totaled around 36.3 million, down an estimated 3.4 million from the same period last year. Apple continued to dominate the market, with 8.9 million tablets sold. Samsung, Huawei, Amazon, and Lenovo rounded out the top five.

Smartphone shipments were up 14.5 million in the first quarter, to 347.4 million units. Samsung’s and Apple’s smartphone shipments held steady, more or less, at 79.2 million and 51.6 million units.

Samsung’s and Apple’s smartphone shipments held steady, more or less, at 79.2 million and 51.6 million units. At the same time IDC estimated that Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo shipped more smartphones last quarter than in the same period the previous year. In fact, those 3 device makers accounted for 110% of the increase in smartphone shipments (they also took market share away from smartphone makers not in the top five).

In fact, those 3 device makers accounted for 110% of the increase in smartphone shipments (they also took market share away from smartphone makers not in the top five).

Smartphone shipments continued to increase as consumers replace their existing cellphones with smartphones, a trend which should continue for another couple years before the market levels out.

Tablet shipments, on the other hand, continue to drop even though Microsoft, Apple, and other companies keep pushing detachable tablets that consumers apparently do not want. At the same time, tablets are lasting longer than they used to, removing the need to replace them.

IDC, IDC

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Comments


Frank May 9, 2017 um 11:18 am

The Microsoft Surface comes with a detachable keyboard while the Apple iPad just has keyboard accessories, so I wouldn’t consider it a detachable tablet.


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