Newsletter 
The tablet market has been decreasing pretty rapidly in the past few years. The big reason for this is the fact that large smartphones (aka phablets) are doing so well these days. And those buying phablets are not too interested in getting a tablet, since it does all of the same things that their smartphone would do. Apple has even seen their shipments of their iPad lineup decrease in recent years, but there are two manufacturers that have actually seen increases in their shipping numbers for the third quarter versus the same period a year ago. And that’s Amazon and Huawei. Amazon is definitely not a surprise, considering the majority of their tablets are under $200. But Huawei is a bit of a surprise.
Apple does still hold the largest market share (in fact, it has grown since the third quarter of 2015) with 21.5%. Followed by Samsung at 15.1%, Amazon at 7.2%, Lenovo with 6.3%, and Huawei at 5.6% rounding out the top 5. When it comes to year-over-year growth though, Amazon is seeing a 319.9% growth rate, and Huawei a 28.4% rate. Amazon shipped 3.1 million in the third quarter this year, versus about 800,000 in the third quarter of 2015. While Huawei shipped 2.4 million versus 1.9 million. For Amazon, that’s a pretty big change, and it’s a bit tough to determine what brought about the pretty large jump in shipments. Considering the new Fire HD 8 did come out at the end of the third quarter. But what this all shows is that cheap tablets is what’s in. And those $500+ priced tablets that Apple and Samsung sell, are definitely not. People are buying them, but not as much as they used too.
In 2016, many manufacturers didn’t even announce any tablets. Samsung was rumored to announce the Galaxy Tab S3 this year, but that didn’t happen. Perhaps Samsung is looking to get away from the tablet scene, considering they shipped 19.3% less tablets in the third quarter, compared to the same period last year. Huawei did announce a new tablet this past September at IFA, but it’s unlikely to be a huge seller for the company. It’ll be interesting to see tablet numbers following the fourth quarter. A quarter that is typically outstanding for most manufacturers due to the holiday season.
