- The numbers say tablet sales are up 5%, Chromebooks are up 3%, PCs are up 7% year-over-year
- Apple has more than a third of the market, but others are rising fast
- Lenovo tablet shipments up 23%
New figures have claimed that global tablet shipments rose 5% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025, reaching 40 million units.
The analysis by analyst firm Omdia noted that this reflects the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, mainly driven by strong demand in the Middle East, Central Europe and China.
And it may not be so insignificant – with Windows 10’s end of life, rising costs and increasingly powerful tablets, all features of recent years, consumers and businesses may be looking for more cost-effective ways to laptop.
Tablet shipments continue to rise
“Shipping performance has consistently exceeded expectations and has recorded uninterrupted growth for the past two years, noted Omdia Research Manager Himani Mukka.
Frequent new product launches, government subsidies, increased appetite for children’s and gaming tablets, competitive pricing, sales promotions and seasonal back-to-school shopping were all credited for sustaining growth in the latest quarter.
Apple maintained the highest market share at 35.6% – more than double that of second-place Samsung (17.3%) – but it was Lenovo, with its 9.1% market share, that saw the biggest year-on-year growth.
Global Chromebook sales also increased in the same period, but by a smaller 3% year-over-year to 4.2 million units. Still, this is indicative of a desire for cheaper, lighter devices.
Japan’s GIGA 2.0 initiative was largely attributed to the increase, as well as educational implementations in Central and Eastern Europe and North America. The K-12 device landscape in the latter is split between both tablets and Chromebooks, and thus continued growth across both sectors.
Lenovo and Asus saw growth in their market share and shipment volumes, while Acer, HP and Dell fell short.
But even despite economic uncertainty, the global PC market continues to triumph. With 72 million PCs shipped by Q3 2025, not only is it far larger than the tablet market, but its 7% year-over-year growth also reflects ongoing demand from buyers.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
