Asia-Pacific tablet shipments registered double-digit growth in 2021, as the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic spurred demand for online education, home entertainment and work-from-home applications, IDC reported.

Shipments grew 12.9 per cent year-on-year to 56.4 million units, driven by 20.7 per cent growth in the consumer segment to 43 million units.

Overall growth is forecast to slow to 1.5 per cent in 2022.

Jennifer Kwan, senior analyst at IDC Asia Pacific, stated several newcomers including Xiaomi, Realme, Nokia and Motorola entered the Android tablet market, with Oppo and Vivo expected to join this year.

“We can expect the competition in the Android market to be fierce in 2022.”

Apple maintained its top position with a 38.4 per cent share after posting an 11.2 per cent increase in shipments to 21.7 million units, while number two Samsung’s shipments grew 21.2 per cent to 8.1 million units for a 14.3 per cent share.

Huawei held third spot with a 12.9 per cent share despite shipments dropping 4.5 per cent to 7.3 million units.

Lenovo booked 44.4 per cent shipments growth and its share rose 2.7 percentage points to 12.6 per cent, with Honor up 36 per cent for a 4.2 per cent share.