Tablet market flattened by Covid-19, says IDG

Factory shutdowns, large screen smartphones blamed for decline

Trade

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The first quarter of 2020 saw the global tablet market in Europe, the Middle East and Asia decline 9.6% year-on-year according to figures from International Data Corporation (IDC).

Despite an increase in the commercial segment sustained by the demand for mobile solutions to address the needs of working and schooling from home, it was not enough to offset the weakness in the consumer segment.

In Western Europe, the overall tablet market in the first quarter of the year performed better than in other regions in EMEA, despite a decline of 5.7% year-on-year. The CEMA region, comprising Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Middle East and Africa (MEA), decreased 16% year-on-year.

“The factory shutdown in China brought manufacturing and logistical supply chain problems to the market, meaning a spike in demand could not be met,” said Helena Ferreira, research analyst, IDC Western Europe personal computing devices. “Although the first quarter of the year is generally not marked by strong seasonality in education, some Android vendors, such as Samsung and Lenovo, as well as Apple, faced increased demand in this segment. However, the impact of the supply chain constraints has created backlogs for the coming quarters.”

Samsung remained the market leader in EMEA, sustained mainly by the MEA region with double-digit growth. Apple retained second position in EMEA, but the popularity of its devices in the most developed economies put it top of the chart in Western Europe.

Huawei held third position, as the vendor responds to the weakening of its phone business in EMEA following the ban by pushing other categories.

Lenovo was fourth in EMEA and continued to increase its growth in the education sector across the most developed economies. The good traction for Microsoft Surface devices in the enterprise sector drove the vendor into the top five in EMEA.

“In the first quarter of the year, CEE and MEA recorded an annual market decrease of 24.5% and 9.9% respectively,” said Nikolina Jurisic, senior programme manager, EMEA. “Besides cannibalisation from large-screen smartphones and weak consumer demand, the tablet market was affected by lockdowns imposed in CEMA countries. Tablets are not the first-choice devices for home working and home schooling during lockdown period.”

TechCentral Reporters

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