- The figures indicate that tablet sales increased by 5%, Chromebooks by 3% and PCs by 7% year over year.
- Apple has more than a third of the market, but others are growing rapidly
- Lenovo tablet shipments increased 23%
New figures show that global tablet shipments increased 5% year-on-year during the third quarter of 2025, reaching 40 million units.
The study by analyst firm Omdia said this reflected the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, largely driven by strong demand in the Middle East, Central Europe and China.
And it may not be so trivial: with Windows 10’s end of life, rising costs, and increasingly powerful tablets all the hallmarks of recent years, consumers and businesses may be looking for more cost-effective ways to get into portable computing.
Tablet shipments continue to rise
“Shipping performance has consistently exceeded expectations, recording uninterrupted growth over the past two years,” noted Himani Mukka, head of research at Omdia.
Frequent new product launches, government subsidies, increased appetite for children’s and gaming tablets, competitive pricing, promotional campaigns and seasonal back-to-school purchases have all contributed to sustaining last quarter’s growth.
Apple retained the highest market share, at 35.6%, more than double that of second-place Samsung (17.3%). However, it was Lenovo, with its 9.1% market share, which recorded the strongest annual growth.
Global Chromebook sales also increased during the same period, but by a lesser 3% year-over-year to 4.2 million units. Still, this speaks to a desire for cheaper and lighter devices.
Japan’s GIGA 2.0 initiative has been primarily attributed to this rise, as well as educational rollouts in Central and Eastern Europe and North America. The K-12 device landscape in the latter is split between tablets and Chromebooks, resulting in continued growth in both sectors.
Lenovo and Asus saw market share and shipment volumes increase, while Acer, HP and Dell lagged behind.
However, despite economic uncertainties, the global PC market continues to prevail. With 72 million PCs shipped in the third quarter of 2025, not only is it far larger than the tablet market, but its 7% year-over-year growth also reflects continued buyer demand.
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