- Figures claim tablet sales up 5%, Chromebooks up 3%, PCs up 7% year-over-year
- Apple holds more than a third of the market, but others are rising fast
- Lenovo tablet shipments rose 23%
New figures have claimed global tablet shipments rose 5% year-over-year during the third quarter of 2025, reaching 40 million units.
The research from analyst firm Omdia noted this reflects the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, largely driven by strong demand in the Middle East, Central Europe and China.
And it might not be so insignificant – with Windows 10 end of life, rising costs and increasingly powerful tablets all characteristics of recent years, consumers and enterprises might be looking for more cost-effective ways into portable computing.
Tablet shipments continue to rise
“Shipment performance has consistently outperformed expectations, recording uninterrupted growth for the past two years, Omdia Research Manager Himani Mukka noted.
Frequent new product launches, government subsidies, increased appetite for children’s and gaming tablets, competitive pricing, promotional campaigns and seasonal back-to-school buying were all credited with upholding the most recent quarter’s growth.
Apple maintained the highest market share, at 35.6% – more than double that of Samsung in second place (17.3%) – however it was Lenovo, with its 9.1% market share, which saw the biggest annual growth.
Global Chromebook sales also rose in the same period, but by a lesser 3% year-over-year to 4.2 million units. Still, this is indicative of a desire for cheaper, lighterweight devices.
Japan’s GIGA 2.0 initiative was credited mostly with the rise, as well as educational deployments across Central and Eastern Europe and North America. The K-12 device landscape in the latter is split between both tablets and Chromebooks, hence continued growth across both sectors.
Lenovo and Asus saw growth in their market share and shipment volumes, while Acer, HP and Dell fell short.
However, even despite economic uncertainties, the global PC market continues to prevail. With 72 million PCs shipped in Q3 2025, not only is it far bigger than the tablet market, but its 7% year-over-year growth also reflects ongoing buyer demand.
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