• The market grew about 24% year on year to reach 11.9m units compared to 9.63m units a year ago.
• Education will continue to have a strong impact on tablet performance in the third quarter as the number of projects to digitise schools expands.

Bengaluru:  Samsung retains its position as the top tablet PC vendor in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) in the second quarter of this year due to work-from-home and e-learning initiatives.

According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung held 28.3 per cent compared to Apple’s 21.5 per cent. Huawei was third with 15 per cent and Lenovo was fourth with 12.1 per cent.

Samsung led the segment in the first quarter with a market share of over 24.5 per cent, followed closely by Apple at 23.8 per cent and Huawei with 12.3 per cent market share. 

 Tablets performed positively for the first time in six years in EMEA and posted the strongest growth since 2013, when the market had not yet reached maturity.

The consumer segment was the main driver, with 27.1 per cent year on year growth, triggered by the Covis-19 pandemic and the sudden need to acquire devices for leisure and education purposes during lockdown.

In the second quarter, the market grew about 24 per cent year on year to reach 11.9 million units compared to 9.63 million units.

 “Demand in Western Europe remained healthy throughout the whole quarter as tablets emerged as a reliable and affordable alternative for consumers to meet their needs for content consumption and provide access to remote schooling during the lockdown,” said Helena Ferreira, research analyst, IDC Western Europe Personal Computing Devices.

“Backlogs created in the first quarter of the year, due to severe constraints in the supply chain, also contributed to the large volume of shipments,” she said.

The Western European tablet market grew 28.3 per cent year on year in the second quarter of the year, while Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Middle East and Africa (MEA) increased 26.9 per cent and 10.8 per cent year on year respectively.

Strong impact

Stefania Lorenz, Associate Vice-President for EMEA, said that 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.

“The ‘forced’ working and schooling from home has pushed demand to high volumes in both CEE and MEA,” she said.

The tablet market is expected to jump 10.9% year on year in the third quarter and close 2020 with 3.7% year on year growth.

Contrary to expectations three months ago, the market did not slow down from June. The growing number of devices per household is expected to help maintain a buoyant third calendar quarter.

“Despite the easing of lockdown restrictions throughout the region, public behaviour remains cautious in general,” said Daniel Goncalves, research manager, IDC Western Europe Personal Computing Devices.

Education will continue to have a strong impact on tablet performance in the third quarter as the number of projects to digitise schools expands.

The outlook for the fourth quarter and beyond remains conservative after two quarters of strong shipments and the imminent impact of the economic downturn on consumer spending.