The latest quarterly report on the tablet market comes from Strategy Analytics and it has a few surprising findings related to tablets. It appears that Windows models had a very good run, gaining market share and unit shipments over the past months.
While the whole tablet market shrank 9% because of lower Android and iOS shipments, Windows models grew to a 16% market share. They got 10.1 million units shipped over the past quarter, compared to 8.5 million in 2015. Apple dropped 19% in shipments and shipped 3 million fewer models, while Android shipments dropped 4.6 million units. Still, there were 40.3 million Android tablets shipped, so the number remains solid.
I should also mention that Windows 10 products achieved growth in spite of the Surface shipments decreasing, because of the lack of a new model during the past holiday season. 2 in 1 tablets are a very hot item right now, but the price is still the deciding factor when the consumer goes into the store. Apple may have cut prices on the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4, but it’s been a while since they launched a new tablet, so that’s why they registered drops.
Microsoft caught up to the rivals thanks to its faithful OEM partners, particularly those from China. The full Strategy Analytics report is here.
