The global tablet market has “reduced the high negative growth rates of the past couple of years”, with market leader Apple having “strung together two straight quarters of year-on-year growth”, according to Strategy Analytics.

While shipments were down 5 per cent annually to 44.6 million units in Q3 2017, there was a 2 per cent sequential improvement.

Apple maintained top spot with 23 per cent market share, although it was Huawei which the analyst firm tagged the “star performer”, with a continued run of four years of annual growth in tablet shipments.

Amazon also saw strong growth, while Lenovo “bounced back to positive growth with good footing in the Android and Windows segments”, Eric Smith, director of tablets and touchscreens for Strategy Analytics, said.

Samsung was the only top-five vendor to see a drop in shipments, although its number two position remains assured. Also losing out were “white box vendors”, with the “others” category also seeing a shipment drop that was not offset by growth among branded Android players.

Windows tablet demand is weak overall, the research firm said, as consumer market pricing and marketing have failed to connect, while enterprise demand is “still wift for pricier 2-in-1 tablet form factors”.