Global tablet shipments continue to drop

Tablet shipments continue to drop overall, although some areas like Eastern Europe are still growing. According to the latest preliminary report for Q2 2016 compiled by the International Data Corporation, the global tablet shipments drop remains higher than 10 percent.

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker reveals that tablet shipments reached 38.7 million units in the last 3 months, including detachables. The leading operating system is Android, with 65 percent, followed by iOS with 26 percent. The remaining 9 percent share belongs to Windows tablets. IDC's senior analyst Jitesh Ubrani thinks Android could increase this lead in the future, saying that "the next 12 to 18 months will be very interesting as Google launches the next version of Android with better multi-tasking support and as they begin to bring together their two operating systems."

Although detachables continue to grow, regular tablets still account for more than 75 percent of the market. Amazon is now a top 5 tablet maker thanks to its affordable Fire tablets and is expected to have a strong evolution in the coming quarter as well.