Samsung updated its tablet line with what it described as a “slimmer, lighter and thoughtfully designed” Galaxy Tab S5e, which is set for availability in the second quarter.

Numbers from Strategy Analytics indicate the Christmas 2018 holiday sales period brought Samsung’s first globally quarterly shipment growth since 2014.

The South Korean company is the second-largest in the market with a 13.7 per cent market share, some way behind Apple’s 26.5 per cent but ahead of Amazon (10 per cent), Huawei (8.5 per cent) and Lenovo (4.3 per cent).

Samsung stated Galaxy Tab S5e is “meticulously engineered for rich and immersive entertainment experiences”, with a 10.5-inch screen and “vast” battery capacity (7040mAh).

DJ Koh, president and CEO of Samsung’s IT and Mobile Communications division, said it is “available at a new price point”, with the “e” in its name indicating a less than premium position.

The tablet is powered by an unspecified octacore processor (2×2.0GHz and 6×1.7GHz cores), with either 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage, or 6GB/128GB.

It is the first tablet to use the second version of Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant.