IDC has reported that in the last quarter of 2016, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market declined 24.2% on year to total 3.07 million units. For the whole of 2016, the decline was 14.7% on year to total 13.8 million units. The worldwide tablet market similarly declined but to 15.6% on year.
Samsung led the MEA tablet market in the last quarter with a 17.6% share, after seeing drops of 28.0% in the previous quarter and 43.6% in the corresponding quarter in 2015. Lenovo retained second place, with a share rise from 9.9% to 10.8%. Apple ended third, with an 8.7% share, although suffering a 41.2% on year decline. UAE-based vendor i-Life was fourth with a market share of 7.4%. Huawei’s shipments fell 39.6% on year and the firm ended with market share of just 5.1%, having previously captured a 13.5% share in the previous quarter.
For 2017 as a whole, IDC now expects a market decline of 8.1% on year with shipments of 12.76 million units. IDC also expects the market to decline at a compound annual growth rate of 0.2% for the period 2016–2021 to total 13.64 million units in 2021.
An IDC spokesman also said that by the year 2021, 12% of tablets will be sold through e-tailers in the region.
