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Apple led in worldwide shipments of tablets in Q4; Amazon finished second, surpassing Samsung

by Alan Friedman / Feb 05, 2018, 6:04 PM

The Apple iPad was the most shipped tablet in the world during the fourth quarter of 2017. For the three months from October through December, Apple delivered 13.2 million slates; that was up .6% from the 13.1 million that it shipped during the same quarter in 2016. Apple owned 26.6% of the global tablet market during the last three months of 2017. Cupertino's focus on the iPad Pro should continue this year. The next version of the high-end iPad is expected to be equipped with an edge-to-edge screen, similar to the iPhone X, and include the TrueDepth Camera and Face ID.

The 2018 Apple iPad Pro models are expected to include Face ID

Usually you would find Samsung in second place, right behind Apple. But the company has been knocked down to third place, with Amazon taking over the runner-up position behind Apple. Amazon was helped by price cutting during the holiday season, and the inclusion of its popular Alexa virtual assistant on newer models. Amazon shipped 7.7 million tablets in the quarter, up 50.3% from the Q4 2016 total of 5.2 million. That took the company's market share from 9.6% to 15.6%.

While Samsung's detachable tablets showed growth, the rest of its line did not. As a result, during the fourth quarter of 2017 Sammy shipped 7 million tablets. That was a 13% year-over-year decline, which dropped the company's market share to 14.1%. Huawei (3.5 million units shipped) was fourth with 7.1% of the tablet market during the quarter, and Lenovo (3.1 million units shipped) took fifth place with 6.2% of the market.

Overall, 49.6 million tablets were delivered from October through December 2017. Compared to the same three months in 2016, tablet deliveries were down 7.9% from the 53.8 million units shipped the year before.

Apple led manufacturers in shipping tablets worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2017

source: IDC

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12 Comments

1. makatijules

Posts: 835; Member since: Dec 11, 2017

When it comes to tablets Samsung options simply suck. The best and only great tablet they made was the original Tab S. But they screwed it up changing it from 16:9 @ 10.5 to 4:3 like the iPad and then right after, Apple decided to go 10.5 doing the opposite. Stupid move Samsung. And then the Tab S, expensive as it was, only received 1 Android update to 5.01 and they abandoned it. The only other good tablet was theNote e 10.1 and 12.2. But why didn't follow up either with sequential models and tbey also were not updated but with one new firmware. I had the Note 12.2. It was updated to one newer firmware. They abandon it and it was useless. Because of spending so much on those and Samsung abandoned them, I vowed to never buy another Samsung tablet ever. I just keep my 2 iPad Minis because I won't be buying any Appl products that require or come preinstalled with IOS 11 or anything after. The Samsung Tab S was better than the iPad and tbey should have followed up with faster hardware and Android 6 or 7 and they didn't. So Samsung you deserve to be pushed out the tablet market. FOREVER!

posted on Feb 05, 2018, 6:13 PM 3

2. kylebelle

Posts: 74; Member since: May 03, 2016

If there is one thing I always loved about the ipad is the 4:3 aspect ratio. It just always felt like how a tablet should be. It felt so much better picking that thing up and playing with it.

posted on Feb 05, 2018, 6:24 PM 4

6. makatijules

4:3 is only great for reading or viewing photos. But when watching movies it sucks. Even reason books is better at 16:9 because in portrait more fits on the screen. I personally do not like. On-standard made up resolutions. Because when you try to watch or use native content, it's gets all messed up.. To each it's own. But in this case, larger/wider is better . I mean be honest what looks better 720p or 1080p. Being use to something doesn't make it great.

posted on Feb 05, 2018, 7:42 PM 0

9. blingblingthing

Posts: 842; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

LOL, The Tab S is just about the only one I remember since it packed an AMOled screen which caught my attention.

posted on Feb 05, 2018, 8:48 PM 1

13. midan

Posts: 2557; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

"But they screwed it up changing it from 16:9 @ 10.5 to 4:3 like the iPad and then right after, Apple decided to go 10.5 doing the opposite." What?

posted on Feb 05, 2018, 11:53 PM 0

15. L0n3n1nja

Posts: 1511; Member since: Jul 12, 2016

Personally I prefer the design of the Tab S2/S3 over the original Tab S. I HATE having the keys at the bottom middle in landscape mode, and 16:9 just doesn't work well for portrait viewing. But its all personal preference.

posted on Feb 06, 2018, 2:14 AM 1

18. duckofdeath unregistered

I agree on that. Last time I got a tablet, around a year ago, I really wanted an AMOLED ditto. The problem is they only seem them in that 4:3 format which is rather useless for media. So I got a Surface tablet instead, even though those are "a bit" too big for my liking.

posted on Feb 06, 2018, 8:48 AM 0

5. Tziggy14

Posts: 622; Member since: Sep 02, 2014

Samsung could save themselves by putting Chrome OS into their detachable tablet line. That would make it an automatic standout from the rest of the competition.

posted on Feb 05, 2018, 7:31 PM 0

8. makatijules

What? Chromebook suck. Samsung ready has a few. I've never seen one outside of the internet made by any Android oem in public. They are pointless PC alternatives. You may as well just buy any Android tablet and get a far better device. Shoving Google services into another form factor, doesn't mean it will sell. Tablets in general are becoming useless because phones have gotten bigger and they simply offer more. Tablets are all becoming a dying breed. You know, what Jobs claim would happen to Pcs, which outsell all he tablets by the millions.