The second quarter of 2018 has seen overall tablet sales decline by 13.5 percent when compared the same period in 2017, according to a sales report from the International Data Corporation (IDC). That fall represents a drop from 38.2 million units to 33 million — a drop of just over 5 million units.
Fire Tablet magnate Amazon was hit the worst by the decline, suffering a 33.5 percent drop in sales compared to 2017 — and losing its fourth-place position to Lenovo as a result. However, Amazon’s comparatively lower sales mean that its drop of 800,000 thousand units is small fry compared to other manufacturers. Samsung dropped a cool million units, falling from 6 million units to 5 million, though still retaining its second place position in the market. The IDC blames an ageing lineup as the major reason for the decline, though it forecasts that the recent reveal of the Galaxy Tab S4 should boost Samsung’s sales in the coming months.
It’s not all bad news. Likely spurred on by the launch of a new, more affordable iPad at the end of the first quarter, Apple’s sales have risen — though only by 0.9 percent. Still, that means that Apple is sitting pretty with 11.5 million sold in the second quarter — over twice what second-place Samsung achieved, and enough to grant it over a third of the market’s sales with a market share of 34.9 percent.
Huawei saw gains, too, rising from 3.1 million units to 3.4 million units — a rise of 7.7 percent, with nearly half of these sales continuing to be found in the Asia/Pacific area (excluding Japan). Sales of Huawei’s convertibles, though a limited range, also showed promise, achieving a rise of 200 percent. Samsung’s sales should be boosted by the reveal of the Galaxy Tab S4, but the South Korean company still risks losing its second-place position to Huawei should recent trends continue. Huawei recently surpassed Apple to become the world’s second largest smartphone manufacturer, and the Chinese company would probably welcome another trophy on its mantleplace.
The sales being tracked include traditional “slate” tablets, as well as convertible tablets that connect to a keyboard — but do not include the growing market of convertible notebooks, which are permanently attached to a keyboard and can rotate fully around to form a bulky tablet.
Affinity’s new all-in-one creative app is finally coming to the iPad, nearly a year after Canva launched the redesigned desktop version for Mac and Windows. Creatives have been asking for the iPad release ever since, especially because files created in the new Affinity app cannot be opened in the older V2 iPad apps.
Affinity already has Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps on iPad, but the new release combines those tools into the same unified app that Canva launched on desktop last year.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Apple has just launched its latest iPad mini with a notable set of upgrades, including an OLED screen, improved speakers, and a more resilient build. It also gets a new chip, and the whole package costs $200 more than its predecessor. But if you look closely at Apple’s online store, you’ll realize that $699 isn’t enough to get you the most powerful version of the A20 Pro chip inside this tablet. In fact, even if you pay $800 for the 256GB model, you still won’t get the beefiest variant. Only when you jump to the 512GB trim, which costs an absurd $999, do you get the most powerful flavor of the A20 Pro.
The $999 model gets more than extra storage