Global tablet shipments were down 45.5 per cent year-on-year during the Jan-March quarter of 2021, according to Digitimes Research.

35.95 million units were shipped during the quarter, down 22.7 per cent from the Oct-Dec 2020 quarter.

Parts shortage is only partially to blame, according to the research. “The sequential shipment decline in the first quarter was due to slow-season effect and volumes in the second quarter are expected to continue suffering from seasonality, witnessing a sequential drop of 6.6%,” the report states.

Apple, Samsung Electronics, Amazon and Lenovo were the top four brands, respectively, with Digitimes also projecting that Lenovo will bump Amazon to fourth place in the second quarter of 2021, with Microsoft rising to fifth place.