Huawei bucks downward trend to unseat Apple and take the lead in China’s tablet market amid pandemic

China’s tablet shipments plunged 30 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, although the pain was not shared evenly, according to a report from research firm IDC.

Shenzhen-based Huawei saw its tablet shipments grow 4.3 per cent year on year in the quarter ended March 31 to 1.5 million units – the only major tablet maker in the market to achieve positive growth in the period, IDC said in the report on Monday.

During the quarter Huawei unseated Apple as the top tablet brand with a 40.2 per cent share of China’s market compared to 35.1 per cent for the US company, which lost its lead after a 42.5 per cent year on year drop in unit sales of iPads in the period.

IDC’s report showed that Xiaomi, Microsoft and Lenovo all saw their sales slump in the first quarter, accounting for 5.5 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 1.7 per cent of the Chinese tablet market respectively.

Hit by the coronavirus pandemic, China’s tablet shipments fell sharply in the first quarter of the year but “market opportunities arising from the pandemic were also unexpected by the industry” said Guo Tianxiang, a senior analyst at IDC.

The opportunities mainly came from higher demand for online education and remote working. In the first 10 days following the Lunar New Year holiday, tablet sales on JD.com, China’s second largest e-commerce platform, increased 77 per cent year on year.