Apple, Huawei, Amazon gain in sluggish tablet market

Overall tablet sales dropped 3.4 percent from the same period last year to 37.9 million, according to a survey by research firm IDC.

Apple’s nearly 15 percent boost in iPad sales from a year ago gave it a 30 percent share of the global market, IDC said.

IDC said Apple’s gains came from consolidating its lineup and introducing new tablets, including a 10.5 inch iPad Pro, which encouraged some consumers to upgrade.

Samsung remained the number two vendor with a 15.8 percent market shares as sales dipped one percent, the report said.

China-based Huawei meanwhile bucked the overall trend with a strong 47 percent gain in sales, vaulting to the number three position with an eight percent market share, the research firm reported.

IDC estimated that Amazon — whose sales figures are not reported — boosted its Fire tablet sales by 51 percent from last year to capture the fourth spot at 6.4 percent.

China’s Lenovo was fifth with a 5.7 percent market shares as sales dropped 14.6 percent from last year, the report said.

A separate survey by Strategy Analytics estimated a seven percent decline in global tablet sales to 43.8 million units in the April-June period.