Apple's iPads lead a sharply-growing first-quarter tablet market in 2021

Tablets (particularly those running Android) as a form-factor seemed to be in severe decline in popularity - until the Covid-19 pandemic hit. In those circumstances, they suddenly became an option again as personal entertainment and remote learning portals. Now, Counterpoint Research concludes that their market experienced yet another quarter of positive growth in 1Q2021.

The sector posted a 53% increase in shipments year-on-year (YoY). Admittedly, they were 22% less compared to the bumper holiday performance of 4Q2020. Therefore, this might be further evidence of how tablets have sprung back into the mainstream of consumer devices as of late.

Then again, one thing that has not changed is Apple's dominance in this market. Counterpoint reports that its iPads had a 37% share in 1Q021, up from 30% in 1Q2020. Of these, the series' vanilla models sold the most (at 56%), followed by its Air and Pro variants (with 19% and 18% respectively).

Samsung retained its second place in the tablet market (with 22% of all sales in 1Q2021), whereas Amazon now shares its #3 slot with Lenovo. Huawei, on the other hand, dropped to fifth place with a 5% share of the 1Q2021 market. 

This might change with the release of its new MatePad Pro flagship, although it is apparent this area of Huawei's business is still suffering from its US trade ban, as are many others.

Finally, Counterpoint Research notes that the top brands may have benefitted from a lack of competition; for example, Xiaomi has only just become linked to rumors of a new tablet after several years of absence from the space.

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