The COVID-19 pandemic has revitalized the shrinking tablet market, thanks to remote learning. During the period, Samsung emerged as the biggest tablet vendor in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The company's tablet shipments increased by nearly 70% from Q2 2019.
According to a new report from market analysis firm International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung shipped around 3.37 million tablets in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions during the second quarter of the year. Its market share reached 28.3%, up 7.6% compared to the numbers from the second quarter of last year.
In comparison, Apple's market share dropped from 25% in Q2 2019 to 21.5% in Q2 2020. The Cupertino-based tech giant managed to ship 2.56 million iPads and stood second in the tablet market. Huawei was the third biggest tablet vendor in the region, with a market share of 15%. Lenovo and Amazon were at fourth and fifth positions with 12.1% and 3.8% market share, respectively.
The tablet market in the EMEA region grew 23.8% year-on-year, and the total shipments reached 11.9 million during Q2 2020. This is the biggest growth the segment has seen since 2013. IDC expects the EMEA tablet market to grow 10.9% year-on-year during the third quarter and 3.7% in the fourth quarter.
Stefania Lorenz at IDC, said, “The spike in consumer demand for tablets was driven by the lack of notebooks in the market. In fact, tablets were not expected to be the first choice for home-schooling or home-working, but younger students and children were equipped with tablets instead of notebooks.“
