Apple's iPad maintains lead as tablet market expanded in Q2 2024

In May, Apple made considerable updates to its iPad Air and iPad Pro lines, upgrading them to M2 and M4 chips respectively among other alterations. It now appears that those upgrades made an impact on the market as a whole.

According to Counterpoint's Global Tablet Market Tracker, the overall tablet market saw an increase in shipments year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024. While typically a slow period, global shipments increased by approximately 15% on Q2 2023.

Apple's contribution to the increase was a 14% increase in its own shipments. While it didn't have the biggest year-on-year change among the observed manufacturers, its market share meant its increase still greatly affected the overall market.

Due to iPad sales growth being similar to overall market growth, Apple's 37% market share was the same as in Q2 2023.

It is likely that Apple's lack of iPad updates in 2023 followed by some changes and expectations of more in 2024, helped bump up sales from what was a very quiet year for iPad.

"The market leaders' return to normal model release schedules signals an optimistic outlook for 2024," said research associate Kevin Lee. It is also "an indication of recovering consumer sentiment."

Other vendors saw increased growth, but with much smaller market shares. Samsung had 16% year-on-year shipment growth, but its market share also stayed static at 20%.

Huawei had its shipments grow 49% year-on-year, shifting its market share from 6% to 7%. Lenovo also managed shipment growth of 17%, but its 7% market share didn't change over the same period in 2023.

Xiaomi had a 92% increase in shipments for the quarter, which doubled its market share from 3% to 6%. However, the group of "other" unnamed vendors endured a 2% drop in shipments, resulting in a segment share drop from 28% in Q2 2023 to 23% in 2024.

For the immediate future, Counterpoint believes the market could see more rises. According to associate director Liz Lee, "Global tablet market shipments look promising for the rest of 2024 stacked with releases of the new iPad and iPad mini on top of Samsung's flagship S series, both expected in the latter half of the year."

Lee continued "As improving macroeconomic conditions continue to restore demand to healthy levels, we expect to see an increasing contribution from emerging market regions for 2024."

Apple is expected to be announcing another special event in late October, which could see the launch of new iPads alongside Mac updates.