Lenovo tops Indian tablet market with 94% growth

While the Indian tablet PC market recorded a 4 per cent decline (year-on-year) in the third quarter this year, Lenovo captured 20.3 per cent share to lead the segment, witnessing 94 per cent growth over the previous quarter, market research firm CMR said on Monday.

Acer grabbed the second spot with 16 per cent market share in terms of unit shipments.

"Over a period of time, tablet PCs are finding improved adoption in corporate as well as government segment. Education was the key segment for B2B sales and the key driving force behind the growth in 3Q 2017," Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst, CMR, said in a statement.

Lenovo's growth was attributed to its plan of distribution of its tablets towards "NAMO E-Tab Tablet Sahay Yojana" in August.

The company's tablet model "Tab3" 7-inch was the highest contributor with 13 per cent market share in overall tablet market in terms of unit shipments.

According to CMR's India Quarterly Tablet PC Market Review, 0.94 million tablets were shipped in India, recording 38 per cent growth over the previous quarter.

"Tablet PCs in consumer space are sidelined by phablets (Mobiles with 5.5-inch and above screen size) due to lack of product differentiation and compelling use cases," Kumar added.

In terms of unit shipments, 4G, 3G and Wi-Fi-based tabs witnessed a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth of 53 per cent, 44 per cent and 22 per cent respectively in the third quarter, while 2G tablets witnessed a decline of 15 per cent in the same period.

In terms of Operating System (OS), Android continued to be the top operating system choice with 92 per cent market share due to the increased availability of affordable Android-based tablets in the market.

The Android market grew 43 per cent from the last quarter while iOS grew only 5 per cent and its market share remained steady at 8 per cent.

The tablet market in the segment of Rs 5,000-10,000 witnessed a huge growth of 160 per cent. Tabs in the price category of less than Rs 5,000 witnessed sharp sequential decline of 27 per cent in the third quarter of 2017.

"With the cost of 4G data going down, the demands for 4G devices will significantly increase in the coming quarters. This will increase the affordability of 4G tablets. Hence the demand for low-cost tablets is likely to grow significantly," said Menka Kumari, Analyst at CMR.