The shipments of tablet computers worldwide declined about 12 percent last year due to the slowdown in demand for IT devices amid a global economic slump.
According to market research report TrendForce on January 31, the global tablet PC shipments totaled 168.5 million units last year, down 12.2 percent from 192.0 million units a year before. This was the first time for global tablet PC shipments to suffer a double-digit decline.
The TrendForce report said, “The tablet computer market was attacked by many other devices ranging from 5-inch smartphones to 2-in-1 computers which eroded the tablet PC market last year.”
Apple kept its leading spot in the global tablet computer market last year. Its shipments, however, fell 22 percent as its flagship iPad shipments remained sluggish at 49.6 million units. Apple’s market share, accordingly, slid to 29.4 percent last year from 33.0 percent a year before.
Samsung Electronics ranked No. 2 with a share of 19.5 percent. Samsung’s tablet PC shipments also fell 18 percent year on year to 33.5 million units. TrendForce predicted that the gap between Apple and Samsung would narrow to about 5 percentage points this year, with Apple gaining 25 percent and Samsung 20 percent.
