Apple continued to be largely unchallenged in terms of its share of the worldwide market for tablet computers during the first three months of 2022.
According to data released by the tech market analyst firm Canalys, Apple shipped nearly 14.9 million iPads worldwide in the first quarter of the year, well ahead of the 7.9 million tablets shipped by its closest rival over that period, Samsung.
This meant the Cupertino company enjoyed a 38.6% share of the international tablet market for those three months; Samsung mustered 20.4%, with the next-highest shares achieved by Amazon (9.2%), Lenovo (7.8%), and Huawei (4.4%).
All of those companies shipped fewer tablets during Q1 2022 than they had in the corresponding period of 2021, with the exception of Amazon, which Canalys said managed 3.3% annual growth “on the back of heavy discounting of its Fire tablets.”
Canalys acknowledged the broader trend of slightly falling worldwide tablet shipments, which it said were 3% lower “against what was an exceptionally strong Q1 2021.”
In a slightly more eyebrow-raising move, Canalys also declared Apple to be the leading vendor when it came to worldwide PC shipments during the first quarter of 2022, its 18.8% market share placing it slightly ahead of Lenovo, with 17.8%.
However, this is only the case when tablets are considered to be PCs, alongside desktops and notebooks – and according to the iMore website, when tablets are taken out of the equation, Apple doesn’t even feature in the top five for global PC shipments.
Overall, though, the above figures make strongly reassuring reading for Apple, which has easily kept hold of its ‘business as usual’ position at the front of the tablet pack.