It's no big secret that the mobile industry is going through a bit of a rough patch due to the coronavirus pandemic, but while the same appeared to be true for the tablet market during the first three months of 2020, global shipments spectacularly bounced back between April and June.
Although this may sound surprising given the lengthy history of pain and sorrow experienced by the world's top tablet vendors, Digitimes Research did forecast an unusual growth more than three months ago. Incredibly enough, the final Q2 numbers collected and published by Canalys today are significantly higher than those already lofty predictions, marking an almost surreal 26 percent year-on-year increase in worldwide shipments.
Mind you, we're talking about a market that was down 18 percent in Q1 2020 compared to the same period of last year, according to the IDC's estimates, after falling 0.6 percent during Q4 2019 and 1.5 percent for the entire year.
Clearly, COVID-19 had the same initial effect on both the tablet and smartphone industries, but the former recovered astonishingly quickly as more and consumers found that their remote work and education needs could be met by something cheaper and more flexible than a traditional PC.
Speaking of, desktops actually continued their free fall in the April - June 2020 timeframe, shedding 26 percent compared to Q2 2019, while laptops were on a roll, gaining almost as much as their more compact and affordable cousins in quarterly global shipments (24 percent versus last year).
Unsurprisingly, Apple crushed every single one of its tablet-making rivals... once again, jumping from under 12 million to over 14 million unit shipments for a 19.8 percent year-on-year hike and a... declining 38 percent slice of the pie. While the Cupertino-based tech giant is obviously in no danger of seeing its dominance threatened anytime soon, it has to be highlighted that Samsung, Huawei, Amazon, and Lenovo all enjoyed bigger boosts in sales.
Lenovo is now breathing down Amazon's neck in the head-to-head battle for the fourth spot in worldwide tablet shipments after a remarkable 52.9 percent year-on-year surge, while Huawei is still way behind Samsung in third place despite gaining a solid 44.5 percentage points of its own.
The "others" section didn't have such a great quarter, losing a lot of share as shipments grew by a microscopic 2.7 percent, which is definitely bad news for the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Walmart.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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