Despite a worldwide decline in overall tablet sales, the iPad continues to grow

The worldwide tablet market has continued its steady decline in growth year over year, but the iPad has remained resilient to this trend. Backed by the recent release of the 10.2-inch affordable iPad, Apple's tablet continues to grow in both shipments and market share.

A new report by the International Data Corporation revealed that in 2019 the worldwide tablet market shrank 1.5% year over year and that global shipments totaled 144 million units, a decrease of 2.1 million units.

At the same time, the iPad enjoyed a 15.2% growth year over year, and it is easy to understand why. The new low-cost iPad, which didn't launch until the fall, accounted for 65% of the iPads that were sold last year and grew Apple's units sold from 43.3 to 49.9 million.

"Apple maintained its lead in the holiday quarter, growing 22.7% year over year. The new iPad launched last quarter accounted for nearly 65% of their shipments and helped the company gain share to 36.5% compared to 29.6% last year. As the company's product portfolio is moving more towards detachables, slate tablet shipments have been at an all-time low with a 79.3% decline."

Samsung ended in second behind Apple with 21.7 million tablet shipments in 2019, a 7.2% decline from last year. Huawei came in third with 14.1 million units shipped, a 3.5% decline from 2018. Amazon actually grew its global shipments in 2019 by 9.9% and ended in fourth with 13.0 million units. Lenovo ended in fifth with 8.5 million units shipped, a 4.2% decline year over year.