What Are The Top Selling Tablet Devices of 2017?

Tablet devices are a fantastic halfway point between laptops and smartphones. They’ll never replace either of these devices, but they’re really useful to have around, whether you’re working on-the-go, catching up with a favourite TV show or simply browsing the web.

The tablet market seems to be declining globally, with statistics from research firm IDC showing that the global tablet market shipped just over 36m units in Q1 2017 – an 8.5% decline on last year’s figures, and lowest total since 2012, when tablets were still staking their claim in the market. It also marks the tenth consecutive quarter of declining growth in the tablet market.

Many experts believe this is because, unlike smartphones, there are fewer reasons for consumers to upgrade their tablets after a year or two. A decent tablet can last for three or four years without replacement, unlike smartphones, which tend to deteriorate after around 18 months.

Despite the global decline, the big hitters in the tablet world are still shifting stock like nobody’s business. Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Amazon, Lenovo and others are still selling millions of devices each quarter, as those with existing tablets seek to upgrade to the newest model, and those without a tablet invest in one for the first time.

In the first quarter of 2017, even the giant that is Apple shipped fewer tablets – but they remained at the head of the pack. The firm shipped 13% fewer iPads, resulting in 8.9m iOS powered tablets entering the market during the first three months of the year. This is down from the 10.3m that were shipped during Q1 2016. Despite this significant drop, and the fact that this was the 13 ^th consecutive quarter with lower year-on-year sales, the iPad is still the market leader, with 24.6% of the worldwide tablet market.

As you might expect, Samsung came in second with 6m tablets shipped during the first three months of 2017. The firm’s decline was not as sharp as Apple’s with sales down just 1.1% from the number of tablets shipped in Q1 last year. Samsung’s notable tablet devices include the Galaxy Tab series and the new Galaxy Book, which gets in on the detachable tablet market currently dominated by Apple and Windows.

Samsung accounts for 16.5% of the worldwide tablet market, and is closing the gap on Apple – they currently trail by just over 8%, slightly better than last year, when they trailed by 10.7%. Samsung’s success is also despite the trouble with the Galaxy Note tablet, which was famously recalled and banned as a result of its strangely combustible batteries.

In third place for biggest sellers was Huawei, the company behind the MediaPad and the MateBook, another detachable tablet device. Huawei delivered 2.7m shipments in the first quarter, and has now cornered 7.4% of the global tablet market – ahead of big brands like Windows, Lenovo and Amazon.