Apple climbs to Number 1 spot in EMEA tablet market : IDC

Apple has snatched the No 1 position from Samsung to lead the table in the EMEA tablet market that overall saw a decline of 10.9% shipping only 9.7 million units in the first quarter of 2019, an IDC report says.

Demand remains weak in the consumer segment as the lack of compelling reasons for consumers to refresh their tablets has slowed the pace of device renewals. Apple emerged as the clear winner in the first quarter, regaining the number 1 position in EMEA, with an impressive run of six consecutive positive YoY quarter performances in the declining market. 

The research firm said the market consolidation continues as more b-brands and local champions either exit or become less relevant.

The commercial segment continues to consistently outperform the market average. It only represents around a fifth of the overall market in EMEA, however, so its growth in 2019Q1 did not offset the decline in the consumer space.

"The proliferation of use cases across multiple key industries such as the financial sector, retail, transportation, and education is creating very interesting pockets of growth for tablet devices," said Daniel Goncalves, senior research analyst, IDC Western European Personal Computing Devices. "As the erosion of the consumer space shows no signs of slowing down, enterprise is the only real opportunity for growth, so cooperation with vertical-specific resellers and the creation of scalable end-to-end solutions are vital."

Overall, the tablet market in Western Europe declined 7.7% YoY in 2019Q1, while Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEMA) declined 15.8% YoY.

"While consumer demand in the CEE region remained in negative territory during the first quarter of 2019, the commercial segment increased by double digits as it benefitted from significant deliveries to the telco and banking sectors in Poland," said Nikolina Jurisic, product manager, IDC CEMA.

Vendor Highlights

Apple regained market leadership in EMEA as it continues to grab share from Android, boosted by last year's iPad release.

Samsung remains strong across the three subregions despite the double-digit decline, especially in the CEMA region where it holds the number 1 position.

Huawei was third and posted a flat performance, leveraging the growing strength of the brand in the region before the recent boycotting of its products by many prominent players in the industry following the U.S. ban.

Lenovo continues to shift its focus away from tablets in favor of a stronger presence in the PC market.

Amazon held on to its top 5 ranking as a result of the very aggressive price points of its Fire devices.