Tablet market stalls because there’s not much new worth buying

Shipments of tablet computers from minor vendors are on the slide, according to analyst firm IDC. The firm says 38 million tablets made it out the door in the third quarter of 2025, a 4.4 percent year-on-year decline. “Following six consecutive quarters marked by several product refreshes and a replacement cycle upswing, the tablet market began to show signs of cooling,” the firm said. “Elevated inventory levels carried over from [the] first half of 2025 – partly due to precautionary stockpiling amid tariff concerns – further weighed on sales during the quarter.” But big brands didn’t feel much pain. Apple remained the market leader despite launching new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in Q3 2024. Cupertino usually sees a sales spike shortly after new models debut, so could perhaps have excused itself a dip in sales or slow growth. IDC found it instead posted 5.2 percent year-on-year growth and shipped 13.2 million tablets in Q3 2025, thanks to “strong performance of 10.9" iPad shipments.” That’s the no-frills basic iPad. Lenovo scored 22.6 percent year-over-year shipment growth, Xiaomi managed a 7.2 percent improvement, and Huawei shipped 200,000 more machines than it did in the same period last year. Apple's ultra-thin iPhone flops as foldable iPad hits a crease Apple goes all in on AI acceleration with M5 MacBook, iPad, and Vision Pros Chromebook sales surged in Q2 thanks to Japanese schools Siri? Will tariffs hurt Apple? Tim Cook says brace for a $900M whack, for starters IDC found engaged buyers in “emerging markets where education initiatives, government digitization programs and smartphone vendors expanding their tablet offerings continue to drive shipment volumes.” That trend kind-of worked for Samsung, which IDC says saw improved sales of its cheap A-series machines, but couldn’t land enough commercial projects to keep growing and therefore saw its tablet shipments slide 1.9 percent year-over-year to 6.9 million units. The biggest loser was “other” tablet-makers, the manufacturers that can’t crack IDC’s top five charts. Those minor vendors saw their combined shipments slump from 11.2 million in Q3 2024 to 8.3 million this year. “The tablet market underscores a transition from pandemic-driven demand to steady, value-oriented growth,” said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. “Shipments are stabilizing as replacement cycles lengthen, but innovation in AI-powered features, detachable form factors, and display technology is helping sustain engagement across both consumer and enterprise segments. The market’s near-term trajectory points to selective recovery led by productivity-centric and mid-premium devices.” ®