iPad Pro Fails to Help Apple's Tablet Slump

The worldwide tablet slump continues, dropping 14.7 percent year on year to 43 million shipments in the third quarter of 2016, though that's up 9.8 percent from the second quarter of this year.

Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, and generic "white box" slates continue to lost ground to Amazon and Huawei, according to IDC. Amazon was an outlier with 3.1 million units shipped in Q3—a 319.9 percent growth over 2015. But that success was largely due to strong sales of the 7-inch Fire tablet ($49.99 at Amazon) , which was heavily discounted during July's Prime Day sale.

"We're witnessing real tectonic movements in the market with slate companion devices sold as the low-end serving a broader platform strategy, like Amazon is doing with Alexa on its Fire tablets," Jean Philippe Bouchard, research director for IDC tablets, said in a statement.

Huawei, meanwhile, topped last year's numbers by 28.4 percent with 2.4 million units shipped between July and September. Known for its smartphones, the Chinese manufacturer's tablets—many of which come integrated with cellular connectivity but Wi-Fi-only prices—are picking up steam.

Still, Apple and Samsung continue to lead the pack. No. 1 Cupertino counted 9.3 million unit shipments—mostly iPad Air and iPad mini models—in Q3. The company's push for the iPad Pro ($313.99 at Best Buy) , however, didn't pay off, and Apple fell 6.2 percent since 2015.

Samsung, with 6.5 million units, took an even bigger hit, dropping 19.3 percent year over year. Other, non-brand slates, which account for 44.2 percent of the market (twice as much as Apple), also declined nearly 30 percent.

Earlier this year, IDC suggested 2-in-1 devices are the one bright spot among tablets. Slate shipments were down 10.1 percent at the time, but if you consider 2-in-1s part of the market, the devices "reached an all-time high" of 8.1 million units.

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Unfortunately, as senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani pointed out, many of those low-cost (sub-$200) detachables come with an equally low-cost experience. "The race to the bottom is something we have already experienced with slates and it may prove detrimental to the market in the long run as detachables could easily be seen as disposable devices rather than potential PC replacements," Ubrani said.

Market share among tablet operating systems, meanwhile, continue to shift away from iOS and Android toward Windows, Strategy Analytics reports. Microsoft's mobile OS shipments grew 25 percent year-on-year to 7.3 million units in Q3, capturing 16 percent market share.

"Microsoft has led a transformation in the tablet market," Strategy Analytics Service Director Peter King said in a statement. "Apple is now reliant on iPad Pro for tablet and laptop replacement, while many other PC OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] abandon Android slates in favor of more expensive 2-in-1 Windows tablets for better productivity and versatility."