Global tablet shipments total 33 million in Q2 2018, IDC reports-- a -13.5% Y-o-Y decline, with shipments of both slate and detachable/hybrid tablets falling, in part due to a lack of updates to the high-profile devices launched in Q2 2017.
"The detachable market is at a crucial stage as it has been driven primarily by premium products from Microsoft and Apple and growth has slowed in recent months," the analyst says. "Though consumers and businesses alike have shown interest in the detachable form factor, those operating on tighter budgets have had very few options available to them and hence some have opted for traditional PCs. However, with the launch of the Surface Go, Chrome OS-based detachables, and hopefully a more affordable iPad Pro in the future, the detachable category still has a bright future, provided the performance and software lines up with users' expectations."
The launch of the Snapdragon 850 processor might also improve detachable numbers, following the disappointing first generation Windows 10 Snapdragon-powered devices. The Snapdragon 850 is specifically designed for Always Connected PCs, and Microsoft provides developers with tools to bring 64-bit apps to the platform. As such, IDC believes the hardware can boost detachable shipments, especially the "woefully underserved" mid-market segment. The mid-market is key to detachable segment, and Microsoft has only started addressing it with the Surface Go.
In vendor terms Apple continues to lead, with the Q1 2018 launch of a newer iPad, iOS improvements and a push into education seemingly paying off for the company. Samsung follows, even as shipments are down by -16.1% Y-o-Y. The S. Korean giant sees declines in both slate and detachable devices, since the company has only launched a "couple" of products in recent memory, and the August launch of the Galaxy Tab S-series and Galaxy Tab S4 will do little to boost Samsung share in the long run.
Huawei shipments total 3.4m in Q2 2018, putting it in 3rd place in the IDC tablet vendor rankings, with most shipments going to Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan). Lenovo follows with 2m units, a -8.4% Y-o-Y decline and a sequential decline from Q1 2018. In May 2018 Lenovo closed its joint venture with Fujitsu to take over majority ownership of the Fujitsu PC business. The deal covers a portion of Fujitsu tablets.
Amazon comes 5th with a -33.5% Y-o-Y decline. The online retailer almost "highhandedly" took out various whitebox vendors, and now faces a saturated market. As such it is slowly expanding into additional markets, though the incremental growth from such countries fails to offset declines in the US.