Apple Continues to Dominate Tablet Market With an Estimated 19.2 Million Shipments in Q4 2020

Apple continues to hold a dominant position in the tablet market thanks to continued iPad sales growth throughout 2020, according to new data shared today by Canalys.

canalys tablet shipments q42020
Apple shipped an estimated 19.2 million iPads during the fourth quarter of 2020 (which corresponds to Apple's first fiscal quarter of 2021), marking a 40 percent increase over the estimated 13.7 million tablets that it shipped in the fourth quarter of 2019.

When it comes to market share, Apple comes in at 36 percent, close to double the market share of its next closest competitor, Samsung. Samsung has a 19 percent market share and shipped an estimated 9.9 million tablets during the holiday quarter.

Amazon shipped an estimated 6.5 million tablets for 12 percent market share, while Lenovo shipped 5.6 million and Huawei shipped 3.5 million.

Apple furthered its dominance in the tablet market, with Q4 shipments growing 40% to 19.2 million, its best iPad performance since Q4 2014. Samsung maintained second place in the market with 9.9 million tablets shipped, up 41% from Q4 2019. Amazon climbed to third place on the back of strong holiday season demand, shipping 6.5 million tablets. Lenovo was the fastest growing vendor in Q4, increasing sell-in volume by 125% to reach 5.6 million units. Huawei was the only vendor in the top 5 to see shipments decline year-on-year.

For all of 2020, Apple shipped an estimated 58.8 million tablets, 24 percent more than it shipped across 2019. Samsung shipped an estimated 31 million, followed by Huawei at 16.3 million and Amazon at 15.9 million.

canalys worldwide tablet shipments full 2020
Canalys also shared estimates for combined PC, tablet, and Chromebooks in the fourth quarter of 2020, and using this metric, Apple was the number two worldwide vendor with 26.4 million device shipments, up 42 percent from combined Mac and ‌iPad‌ shipments in 2019.

When factoring in tablets and PCs, Lenovo was the number one worldwide vendor with 28.8 million units shipped. HP came in third with 19.3 million, Dell was fourth with 15.9 million, and Samsung came in fifth with 11.5 million units shipped.

canalys worldwide pc tablet shipments
Across all of 2020, Apple shipped an estimated 81.4 million iPads and Macs, coming in second to Lenovo with 87 million units shipped.

Apple yesterday shared its earnings results for the holiday quarter, confirming continued strong Mac and iPad sales. Apple does not break down unit sales for its devices anymore, but Apple set a new all-time holiday quarter revenue record for the Mac category with revenue hitting $8.7 billion, up from $7.2 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Apple's ‌iPad‌ category earned $8.4 billion, up from $6 billion in the year-ago quarter, which marks growth of 41 percent year over year.

Going forward, Mac and ‌iPad‌ sales are likely to remain strong as people continue to work and learn from home. Apple has multiple Mac refreshes in the works, and this year, we're expecting to see overhauled iMacs and MacBook Pro models with Apple silicon chips.

There are also new iPad Pro, iPad mini, and ‌iPad‌ refreshes in the works that could further drive sales.

Tag: Canalys

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Top Rated Comments

LeeW Avatar
55 months ago
If I was to get rid of all but one Apple device the one I would keep is the iPad, it's the one for me that is as perfect and fit for purpose as anything else they make.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BWhaler Avatar
55 months ago
Well earned.

The iPad hardware is lightyears ahead of everything else in the market, and hopefully Apple seriously invests in iPad OS and 1st part apps to truly make the iPad the future of computing.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
55 months ago

Mine collects dust. It's obsolete like stand-alone GPS and MP3 players.
Did you fall down recently and bump your head? :P Obsolete? Maybe, for you it is. For the rest of the Apple lovers, I don't think so.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
55 months ago
The iPad is great in general, and their current lineup is fabulous, but also this last almost-year, they’ve been popular for learning from home. I wonder how much that affected the numbers (and if it was across the board for all tablets or if iPads - or others - saw particular boosts). I wonder if an eventual return to in-person classes (and offices) will see a decline in tablet sales, or if they’ve caught the public interest more.

My nieces got iPads a year or two ago, mostly for use on long trips (they don’t get a lot of screen time otherwise), but they turned out to be perfect for classes (especially with a keyboard added for the older one). And these days, when I’m not in front of my work MBP, I’m more likely to pick up my 3rd Gen iPad than open my MBP, for catching up on the world (like now).
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
55 months ago
Was there really any doubt? Apple is king in this area and for good reason.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
entropys Avatar
55 months ago
It is my main home machine. iPadOS constraints still hold it back though. All Apple really needs to do is properly implement a file management system, multitasking, print services, multiuser accounts and tweak cut and paste, and it is pretty close.
land a second port
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)