Huawei was the only vendor to see growth in its tablet business in Q4 last year, according to beancounters at IDC
Western European tablet shipments declined 13.1 year on year, and only ten million tablet units were shipped in Q4 2017, with Apple, Samsung, Amazon and Lenovo all suffering.
Apple remained the market leader, with a share of 24.1 percent but was down one percent on the same period in 2016.
Third-placed Amazon saw the most significant decline at 19.2 percent. However, Huawei, while having a market share of only 5.6 percent, saw its tablet business grow 27.7 percent.
IDC senior research analyst Daniel Goncalves said: “Profitability is increasingly becoming the focus among the most important tablet manufacturers.
“The performance of Apple and Samsung, the two main players in the western European market, together representing over 40 percent of all tablet shipments, reflects the increasing concern for value over volume. Both posted double-digit growth in revenue YoY, despite the single-digit declines YoY in units.”
Slate tablets were branded the primary cause for the shipments drop by IDC, with this market segment falling 15.4 percent. Premium detachable devices saw shipments increase 8.5 percent.
