Apple kept its global tablet shipment lead in calendar Q3 2026, even as iPad shipments fell 27.5% year over year, according to 9to5Mac’s reporting on Omdia’s estimates. Omdia’s own release rounds Apple’s decline to 28%. First place looks considerably less glamorous with those numbers attached. SourceSource
In its November 5 report, Omdia estimated that worldwide tablet shipments fell 23% year over year to approximately 32 million units, their lowest level in nearly three years. Apple’s share slipped from 38.2% a year earlier to 36%, as its shipments declined faster than the overall market. It still held more than twice Samsung’s second-place share of 16.9%. Source
These figures concern shipments, not consumer purchases or Apple’s revenue.
Lenovo supplies the plus sign
Lenovo was the only top-five vendor to increase shipments, growing 12% year over year to 4.1 million tablets. Its market share climbed from 8.7% to 12.7%, the quarter’s largest share gain, according to Omdia. Source
Omdia attributed Lenovo’s growth to slate tablets—the conventional tablet format—as shipments of detachable models declined sharply. Stronger shipments into sales channels across most regions supported that growth, with Europe and Latin America the exceptions. Source
The rest of the leading vendors had considerably less to celebrate. Samsung’s shipments fell 22% to 5.4 million units, Xiaomi’s fell 11% to 2.3 million, and Huawei’s dropped 43% to 1.8 million, according to Omdia. Huawei recorded the steepest decline among the top five. Source
“New” still has to do some work
Omdia research manager Himani Mukka said:
“Persistent supply constraints are also limiting vendors' ability to deliver meaningful specification upgrades, leaving fewer compelling differences between new models and their predecessors.”
