iPad dominates tablet market again, even as sales drop in Q3

Worldwide tablet sales fell to 36.4 million in the third quarter of 2018, according to IDC, representing an 8.6 percent year-over-year decline. Apple continued to dominate the market, even though iPad sales also dropped year-over-year.

Apple sold 9.7 million tablets in Q3, according to IDC -- nearly twice as many as its nearest competitor Samsung sold. That represents a 6.1 percent decline from the 10.3 million Apple sold a year prior. Still, Apple's market share crept up to 26.6 percent. Apple managed to perform slightly better than the market overall in part thanks to the $329 iPad with Pencil support that it launched in late March, IDC says.

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"The tablet market is more like the traditional PC market than ever before," IDC senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement. "Not only do these markets move in sync with each other, but the decreasing margins and overall decline, particularly in slate tablets, has led to the top 5 companies capturing a larger share as many small vendors have exited the space or simply treat the tablet market with a much lower priority."

While Apple recently updated the iPad Pro, the market is clearly less of a priority for Apple, given how little revenue it brings in for the Cupertino company relative to the rest of its products.

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Behind Apple, Samsung held the No. 2 position in Q3, taking 14.6 percent market share. Samsung sold 5.3 million units for the quarter -- an 11.4 percent year-over-year decline.

Amazon rose up to No. 3, taking 12 percent of the market -- even though its sales were effectively flat year-over-year.

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Huawei actually managed to grow its tablet business by more than 7 percent, shipping 3.2 million for the quarter. Its gains came from Europe and Latin America, IDC said. Lenovo sold 2.3 million units, with sales dropping nearly 25 percent year-over-year.

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