Global market grew 28% year-on-year in Q4 2020 amid strong holiday demand for entertainment devices and continued work/school-from-home activity
As 2020 dragged on, tablet vendors delivered much needed options to support learning and working from home, according to Strategy Analytics’ latest report. Especially for users working within a tight budget, tablets are proving to be credible mobile computing alternatives to notebooks, as mobile computing demand showed double-digit year-on-year growth in 2020. While the world optimistically looks to 2021 and the emphasis on work-from-home and e-learning changes once again, can tablets continue to play such a large role?
Eric Smith, Director – Connected Computing said, “The new normal will start to emerge in 2021 as pandemic restrictions slowly fade away, but we fully expect work-from-home and learn-from-home will have won over fans among workers, students, companies, and educational institutions alike. How tablet vendors choose to address this urgent need for mobile productivity will depend on their unique set of strengths and weaknesses, but it is clear that they must fight even harder for revenue in this competitive environment. Risk remains for tablets to be outflanked by notebooks or smartphones in the future.”
Chirag Upadhyay, Industry Analyst added, “Apple had a great holiday quarter with shipments up 37% year-on-year, fulfilling consumer, commercial, and education demand. Several major Android vendors did as well or even better on an annual growth basis as Android tablets have a cost advantage over iPad. Amazon has great value at low cost and typically does very well during the holidays. Samsung and Lenovo had a very strong quarter of performance as their portfolios are wide-ranging, up-to-date, and innovative for entertainment and productivity needs.”
Exhibit 1: 2020 was a Year Filled with Positive Records for the Tablet Market1
| Global Tablet Shipments by Vendor (Preliminary Results, Millions of Units) | ||||||
| Vendor | Q4 ’20 | 2020 | Q4 ’19 | 2019 | Quarterly Growth Y/Y | Annual Growth Y/Y |
| Apple | 18.6 | 57.6 | 13.5 | 44.3 | 37% | 30% |
| Samsung | 10.2 | 31.2 | 7.0 | 21.8 | 46% | 43% |
| Amazon | 6.7 | 17.1 | 4.9 | 15.2 | 37% | 12% |
| Lenovo | 5.6 | 14.0 | 2.5 | 8.5 | 120% | 66% |
| Huawei | 3.5 | 16.4 | 4.3 | 14.4 | -19% | 14% |
| Others | 18.0 | 51.9 | 16.5 | 55.9 | 9% | -7% |
| Totals | 62.5 | 188.3 | 48.6 | 160.2 | 28% | 18% |
| Global Tablet Market Share by Vendor (Preliminary Results, % of Total Shipments) | ||||||||
| Vendor | Q4 ’20 | 2020 | Q4 ’19 | 2019 | ||||
| Apple | 29.7% | 30.6% | 27.8% | 27.7% | ||||
| Samsung | 16.3% | 16.6% | 14.4% | 13.6% | ||||
| Amazon | 10.7% | 9.1% | 10.0% | 9.5% | ||||
| Lenovo | 8.9% | 7.5% | 5.2% | 5.3% | ||||
| Huawei | 5.5% | 8.7% | 8.7% | 9.0% | ||||
| Others | 28.8% | 27.6% | 33.9% | 34.9% | ||||
| Totals | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Source: Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices service |
Exhibit 2: Apple iPadOS Continues to Outperform Other Ecosystems, Reaching 31% Share in 20201
| Global Tablet Shipments by Operating System (Preliminary Results, Millions of Units) | ||||||||||||
| Operating System | Q4 ’20 | 2020 | Q4 ’19 | 2019 | Quarterly Growth Y/Y | Annual Growth Y/Y | ||||||
| Android | 36.6 | 108.1 | 29.1 | 95.1 | 26% | 14% | ||||||
| iOS/iPadOS | 18.6 | 57.6 | 13.5 | 44.3 | 37% | 30% | ||||||
| Windows | 7.0 | 21.6 | 5.8 | 20.1 | 20% | 7% | ||||||
| Chrome | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 53% | 50% | ||||||
| Totals | 62.5 | 188.3 | 48.6 | 160.2 | 28% | 18% |
| Global Tablet Market Share by Operating System (Preliminary Results, % of Total Shipments) | ||||||||||||||||
| Operating System | Q4 ’20 | 2020 | Q4 ’19 | 2019 | ||||||||||||
| Android | 58.5% | 57.4% | 59.8% | 59.4% | ||||||||||||
| iOS/iPadOS | 29.7% | 30.6% | 27.8% | 27.7% | ||||||||||||
| Windows | 11.2% | 11.5% | 11.9% | 12.6% | ||||||||||||
| Chrome | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.4% | ||||||||||||
| Totals | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Source: Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices service
1 All figures are rounded
