Average consumers are pulling back on purchases to contend with higher cost of living while hybrid work and digital learning remain strong forces for mobile computing demand. A more competitive tablet market is emerging from this dynamic, as wealthy consumers brush off inflation more easily in the premium segment and an expanded, revitalized group of tablet vendors coming out of the pandemic fight for market share. While the overall market fell -16% in Q3 2022, Samsung and Amazon led top vendors with low single-digit declines credited to their unique strategies in the market.

Samsung got the closest to positive territory this quarter thanks to its diversified Android portfolio spanning the premium tier with the Galaxy Tab S8 series down to lower tiers with the Galaxy Tab A series. Amazon did nearly as well on the growth metric but for completely different reasons; it’s solely focused on lower tiers and derived strength from Prime Day discounts and its refreshed 7-inch model. Both companies have ways of beating inflationary pressures, which will remain a key skill for the next couple of quarters.

This was a tough comparison quarter for Apple because many new products were launched in September 2021. Unlike the Mac results, there was minimal carry-over demand from last quarter's supply disruption in iPad. Apple's diverse portfolio stretching all the way to iPad Pros and iPad Airs running on M1 processors has boosted Apple's ASP to $483 as users seek to do more on their tablets, including work, school, and play.

The full report from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices (CCD) service, Preliminary Global Tablet Shipments and Market Share: Q3 2022 Results can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/devices/tablets-and-pcs/connected-computing-devices/market-data/report-detail/preliminary-global-tablet-shipments-and-market-share-q3-2022-results-281022