International restrictions on Huawei’s consumer business contributed to a decline in shipments of Android tablets in Q3, which came as the overall market for the devices contracted, Strategy Analytics figures showed.

Huawei’s shipments fell 18 per cent year-on-year to 3.1 million units. Senior research analyst Chirag Upadhyay noted the reduction stems from the “US-China trade war”, with an “inability to launch new Android models” a particular hindrance.

Shipments of Android-powered tablets fell 5 per cent to 23.1 million, with the platform’s market share declining from 61.3 per cent in Q3 2018 to 60.5 per cent.

However, Android remained top of the list of shipments by OS by a considerable margin. Second-placed iOS accounted for 26.5 per cent of the market as Apple grew shipments 4 per cent to 10.1 million units; followed by Windows on a 12.7 per cent share and shipments of 14.8 million; and Chrome, which despite racking up a massive 574 per cent rise in market share, accounted for less than 1 per cent of the market on shipments of 100,000.

Eric Smith, director of connected computing at Strategy Analytics, noted Apple benefitted from the launch of a “slightly larger seventh generation iPad with keyboard” during the quarter as a factor in the growth. Another bonus for the vendor was a 9 per cent increase in wholesale ASPs, he said.

Total tablet shipments of 38.2 million units were down on 39.7 million in Q3 2018, with only Apple, Amazon and Lenovo recording growth.

The e-commerce giant shipped 5.3 million units, up 141 per cent and displacing Samsung from second place in Strategy Analytics’ top-five, while Lenovo devices were up 8 per cent to 2.5 million, ranking it fifth.

Samsung shipments of 5 million units were 5 per cent lower.