Another Bad Quarter for Tablets in Western Europe

According to IDC, the overall tablet market for Western Europe declined 8.1% YoY, shipping 6.6 million units in the first quarter of 2018 (1Q18), as the tablet market continues to exhibit a bleak outlook for the region.

Increasingly long life-cycles, combined with a near-saturated installed base led to a poor consumer performance across both product categories, bringing an overall decline of 8.8% YoY for the segment. There was still one ray of optimism this quarter, as certain OEMs continued to leverage the mobility advantages of a removable keyboard within a business setting, leading to 0.5% growth YoY for detachables in commercial.

Their commercial growth this quarter does not mask the fact that detachable volumes are showing strong signs of heading towards a downward trajectory. Important OEMs are increasingly focusing on profitability, showing concern for value over volume. Concurrently, there is growing demand for convertible PCs, which are analogous in use case but seem to be gaining more traction within enterprises, resulting in a cannibalization effect for detachable sales.

Samsung ranked first with 25.1% market share, but decreasing 13.1% YoY. Apple is second, recording a market share of 24.4%, and increasing by 3.5% YoY. Lenovo ranked third with a market share of 7.8%, while declining 8.8% YoY. Huawei was fourth with 6.5% market share, aided by a very strong growth of 56.6% YoY, as it continues to increase its footprint across Western Europe in all smart connected devices. Amazon ranked fifth with 5.0% market share, growing an impressive 41.5% YoY.