Omdia: Global Tablet Shipments Fall 23% in Third Quarter
According to Omdia, about 32.2 million tablets were shipped worldwide in the third quarter of 2026, the lowest figure in three years. Apple remains the market leader, but its iPad shipments fell faster than the market overall.
The global tablet market continued to shrink in the third quarter of 2026. According to research firm Omdia, roughly 32.2 million tablets were shipped worldwide during the period. That is 23% fewer than a year earlier and the lowest figure in three years.
Apple stays on top but loses share
US technology company Apple remains the largest vendor, shipping more than 11.5 million iPads and holding about 36% of the global market. Even so, Apple felt the drop in demand. Year over year, iPad shipments declined by 27.5%, and the company's market share fell by 2.2 percentage points.
Samsung is in second place with a 16.9% share, followed by Lenovo with 12.7%, Xiaomi with 7.3% and Huawei with 5.7%. Lenovo was the only one of the major manufacturers to post growth.
What is weighing on the market
Analysts point to several factors hurting the tablet sector: a shortage of memory chips, rising costs and a limited amount of innovation in new models. Although the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 series, Apple's OLED iPad mini and the Xiaomi Pad 9 have recently reached the market, they have not managed to boost demand.
The situation may still change around Black Friday, the major year-end shopping sales period, and Christmas.
