Omdia: global tablet shipments fall 23% to 32 million in Q3 2026, lowest in nearly three years
Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei all shipped fewer tablets; only Lenovo grew, and Omdia sees no meaningful recovery before 2028.
· 5 min read
Written by AI from the sources linked below. How we use AI
On this page
Global tablet shipments fell 23% year on year to 32 million units in the third quarter of 2026, the lowest level in nearly three years, according to market researcher Omdia. It is the second double-digit drop in a row, and every top-five vendor except Lenovo shipped fewer tablets than a year ago. Omdia's research manager says "a meaningful recovery in the tablet market is unlikely before 2028".
Key points
- Omdia says worldwide tablet shipments were 32 million units in Q3 2026, down 23% year on year and the lowest in nearly three years.
- The previous quarter was already weak: Omdia reported a 9.9% fall to 35.5 million units in Q2 2026.
- Apple kept the largest share, 36% (38.2% a year earlier), but its shipments fell 28%; Samsung shipped 5.4 million (down 22%), Xiaomi 2.3 million (down 11%) and Huawei 1.8 million (down 43%).
- Lenovo was the only top-five vendor to grow: 4.1 million units, up 12%, with its share rising from 8.7% to 12.7%.
- Omdia blames persistent supply and component constraints, lower priority for tablets in vendors' 2026 and 2027 plans, and launches that did little for demand. It expects supply to tighten further in 2027.
What happened
Omdia published its Q3 2026 tablet figures in early November. The total of 32 million units is down 23% from a year earlier. The Middle East, China and Western Europe were hit hardest, according to the release.
Apple, the largest vendor, held 36% of the market against 38.2% a year earlier. Omdia's release gives Apple's year-on-year decline, 28%, but not a unit figure; 36% of 32 million is about 11.5 million, which is our arithmetic and not an Omdia number. Samsung shipped 5.4 million (16.9% share, down 22%). Lenovo shipped 4.1 million (12.7% share, up 12%). Xiaomi shipped 2.3 million (7.3% share, down 11%). Huawei shipped 1.8 million, down 43%; Omdia's release does not give a share for it in the material we read.
Omdia says detachable tablets (the kind with a keyboard cover) fell sharply, while slate tablets drove Lenovo's growth. The researcher says recent launches, including Samsung's Galaxy Tab S12 series, Apple's OLED iPad mini and Xiaomi's Pad 9 series, "have done little to stimulate consumer demand amid challenging market conditions".
Background
Until this year the tablet market was growing. In its Q3 2025 report Omdia said shipments reached about 40 million units, up 5%, the seventh quarter of growth in a row. At the time it listed Apple at 14.3 million, Samsung 6.9 million, Lenovo 3.7 million, Huawei 3.2 million and Xiaomi 2.6 million. Growth came from the Middle East and Central Europe, consumer demand in China, Chinese vendors expanding abroad, and a Chromebook surge in Japan from an education programme.
That ended in 2026. For Q2, Omdia reported shipments of 35.5 million units, down 9.9%, which broke the usual pattern where back-to-school demand lifts the quarter. According to 9to5Mac's report on that release, Apple shipped 13.5 million iPads (37.8% share, down 7.5%), Samsung 5.8 million, and Lenovo was already the only top-five vendor to grow, by 27.1%. Omdia's Himani Mukka called Q2 "one of the steepest declines in the tablet market over the past two years". The Q3 release repeats the point: after a 10% fall last quarter, the market "recorded another double-digit contraction".
Memory and component costs have been in our coverage of the hardware market for weeks; for example, Apple said in its results that memory costs would cut its December-quarter margin (our report on Apple's fourth quarter). Omdia's tablet release speaks of "supply and component constraints" without a breakdown, so we cannot say from this source how much of the fall is cost and how much is demand.
The numbers
| million units | |
|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | 40 |
| Q2 2026 | 35.5 |
| Q3 2026 | 32 |
Source: Omdia releases for Q3 2025, Q2 2026 and Q3 2026
A caution on the first chart. The Q3 2025 figure of 40 million is the one Omdia published last November. A 23% fall to 32 million implies a year-ago base of about 41.6 million, and Apple's 38.2% year-ago share in the new release implies about 15.9 million iPads, against the 14.3 million in last year's release. That points to Omdia having revised its 2025 figures upward, which researchers routinely do as data comes in. It means the year-on-year percentages should be read inside the new release and not recomputed from the old one. The other vendors' year-ago numbers match last year's release more closely. We have not been able to confirm the revision with Omdia.
Research firms also count tablets differently, so these figures should not be mixed with other trackers' numbers. As of writing we found no other firm's Q3 2026 tablet totals to check Omdia against, so every figure in this article is Omdia's.
What it means
For Apple: iPad is still the biggest tablet line by a wide margin, but a 28% drop in a quarter is large for a product line that was selling roughly 14 million a quarter a year ago. Omdia says Apple's OLED iPad mini launch did little to lift demand.
For Android vendors: Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei all shipped fewer tablets, with Huawei down the most at 43%. Lenovo gained share, which Omdia ties to slate tablets rather than detachables.
For buyers: Omdia expects consumers to delay purchases until more substantial improvements arrive and says vendors have little room to add spec upgrades under current supply conditions. Its outlook is that supply tightens further in 2027. The release gives no price data.
For developers: these are shipments, not a count of tablets in use, so the installed base shrinks far more slowly than sales. In its Q2 release Omdia said tablets still hold demand through affordability, larger-screen models and use in education and field work.
What we don't know yet
- Apple's unit shipments, which Omdia's release does not state in the material we read.
- How much of the fall comes from cost and supply and how much from weak demand.
- Whether other research firms see the same 23% drop; none had published Q3 2026 figures that we could find.
- How Omdia revised its 2025 base figures.
- Whether holiday-quarter sales will reverse the trend; Omdia's outlook says no meaningful recovery before 2028.
What to watch next
Watch for other trackers' Q3 2026 tablet numbers, for Omdia's Q4 report, and for the next results from Apple, Samsung and Lenovo that show how they describe tablet demand. Also watch whether vendors confirm that component supply, as Omdia says, is the main limit.
Sources
Written by
The official account of the people who run audiotale.net: announcements, conversation starters and the newsroom's drafts. Posts written with AI say so. Every other account here is a real person.
Read next
Apple Q4 2026: record $114.5B revenue, but memory costs cut December margin guide to 45-46%
Apple's inventory hit $14.54 billion and executives expect memory costs to keep rising past December, while iPhone Duo supply stays tight.
audiotale.net team6 min read
Apple M6 MacBook Pro 14-inch $1,999 and iMac $1,499: specs, claims, 6 Nov
Apple's M6 brings 12 CPU and GPU cores to the iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro, with pre-orders on 28 October and availability on 6 November.
audiotale.net team6 min read
Apple iPad mini with A20 Pro and OLED: $699, 8.5-inch screen, release 6 November
Apple's redesigned iPad mini gets its first OLED display and an IP67 rating, and costs $100 more than the model it replaces, according to The Next Web.
audiotale.net team5 min read