BALTIMORE—Sinclair will make the first public showing of a NextGen TV-enabled Android media tablet with integrated ATSC 3.0 receiver and antenna during the public-safety convention APCO 2025, to be held July 27-30 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

The broadcaster, exhibiting with the AWARN Alliance and Digital Alert Systems in booth 3065, is debuting the media tablet during the annual gathering of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials to underscore the important role ATSC 3.0 can play in keeping the public informed during emergencies—whether at home watching TV or on the move.=

“We’ve had our eye on APCO for this demonstration because we want to show public safety officials—particularly public-safety communications officials—what 3.0 can do in the home and on the go in a public safety context,” Patrick McFadden, senior vice president for global public policy and communications at Sinclair, said.

But why should a tablet that can already connect to a cell tower or Wi-Fi network need ATSC 3.0 to receive emergency messaging? It boils down to resiliency, McFadden said.

“I’m not taking a shot at the wireless carriers, but their networks are just designed differently than ours,” he said. “If you look at some of those counties in Western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, 60 to 70% of the cell sites went out of service. Our station in Asheville never went off the air.

“That resilience and reliability is tremendous for the TV viewer, but what about someone who’s out of their home when the emergency happens or someone who’s been evacuated?” he asked, rhetorically. “If we can combine our resilience with the ubiquity of mobile devices, that’s a pretty huge public-safety benefit.”

McFadden declined to identify the company responsible for making the NextGen TV-enabled tablet but said Sinclair has been “working with a number of manufacturers” to develop 3.0 mobile devices, including tablets and phones.

In October 2020, Sinclair subsidiary ONE Media Technologies surprised the industry when it unveiled production samples of the Mark One NextGen TV-enabled smartphone. Since then, it has rolled out the next-generation Mark Two smartphone.

Like the Mark One, the tablet shown next week at the gathering is not available for purchase, he said, adding, “I would characterize it as a precommercial trial.” However, the broadcaster has ordered “a large number of these devices,” a sign that the tablet is beyond the proof-of-concept stage. “We’re confident that the market will advance as 3.0 moves forward,” McFadden said.

Besides the NextGen TV-enabled tablet, Sinclair will show the Mark Two 3.0-enabled smartphone as well as NextGen TV dongles that work with mini devices. All of these devices will be used to demonstrate to the more than 5,000 show attendees what emergency alert messages and advanced emergency information could look like on these devices, he said.

Broadcasters in North Carolina, including PBS North Carolina and Capitol Broadcasting’s WNGT, along with several technology developers and vendors demonstrated a few years ago the ability of ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast paging to transmit emergency call data to first responders in the field.

Sinclair’s APCO 2025 demonstration of the version 3.0 tablet and phone, however, will focus on the consumer-facing side of emergency communications, not first responders. “One of the great things about 3.0 is it can do both [communicate to first responders and the public],” he said. “Broadcasters’ use of 3.0 to communicate emergency alerts and information to the public is a valuable service we can provide to the communities we serve, and we want to make that clear to those attending APCO.”

Of course, having the ability to receive an over-the-air TV signal on a tablet beyond emergency alerting and information is important to both the public and broadcasters. “Obviously, the way people consume video has evolved and will continue to evolve, and the opportunities for us to reach viewers wherever they are is hugely significant for the industry,” he said.

NEEDHAM, Mass.—After more than two years of decline, worldwide tablet shipments posted modest year-over-year growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24), totaling 30.8 million units, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

The IDC reported that the last time the market recorded growth was in the second quarter of 2021, after which shipments began to slow due to saturation. 

While macroeconomic issues persist, the researchers said, the rebound in shipments this quarter was driven by the start of a refresh cycle. Although long-term volumes are unlikely to match the surge seen during the pandemic, the shift towards premium tablets is a silver lining for the industry as consumers seek productivity-oriented devices.

"The tablet market started showing signs of recovery in the first quarter. The real gains will come from the next refresh cycle, followed by growth within commercial segments as more tablets are used in the education sector and the gig economy," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "However, these factors won't suffice as the attrition driven by competition from PCs and smartphones will contribute to a lackluster outlook for the tablet market. That said, there is potential upside driven by AI capabilities similar to what's expected in other device types."

In terms of individual companies, IDC reported that Apple faced a bit of a lull last year due to the poor economy and the absence of new models and declined 8.5% year over year. The company has focused on clearing out inventory of older models prior to the expected launch of new models in 2Q24. Apple managed to hold the number 1 position with 9.9 million units shipped in 1Q24.

Samsung ranked second with shipments of 6.7 million units in 1Q24, which was a year-over-year decline of 5.8%. Promotions from competing brands in Europe and Asia/Pacific and the lack of new products held back Samsung's growth. However, the company is focused on improving its user experience by including AI capabilities in its latest products and focusing on premium products to capitalize on this year's replacement cycle, the study noted. 

Huawei retained the third position this quarter with year-over-year growth of 43.6% and shipments of 2.9 million units. The Chinese tech giant likely benefitted from the resurgence of its smartphone business and managed to grow its market share by 2.8 basis points compared to 1Q23.

Lenovo ranked fourth this quarter with year-over-year growth of 13.2%. Like many other vendors, Lenovo has been able to grow its detachable portfolio since the pandemic, with its Tab P series models driving shipments. However, slate tablets still represent nearly 80% of Lenovo's shipments.

Xiaomi retained its spot in the top 5 with impressive growth of 92.6% year over year and shipments reaching 1.8 million units. Outside of China, which is its largest market, Xiaomi grew by triple digits across almost all regions where it ships, the IDC found. 

NEEDHAM, Mass.—Worldwide tablet shipments declined 17.4% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2023 (Q4 2023), totaling 36.8 million units, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

This is the largest decline in fourth quarter tablet shipments since 2016. For calendar year 2023, worldwide tablet shipments totaled 128.5 million units, a decline of 20.5% compared to 2022 and the lowest annual volume since 2011.

Worldwide tablet shipments declined 20.5% year over year in 2023, totaling 128.5 million units, the lowest annual volume since 2011 according to preliminary data from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

"With no significant improvements to the economy and consumers allocating their money to things beyond consumer electronics, tablets may not be very high on the priority list. Project delays and spending freezes have also led to purchase postponement through much of 2023," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "2024 is expected to show some rebound opportunities, provided the year is more economically sound. However, overall challenges remain in the tablet market, and technological advances around AI will likely focus more on the PC and smartphone for the next two years, but tablets will increasingly become part of that conversation."

Apple managed to retain its top spot in the tablet market, despite a notable decline in shipments for both the fourth quarter (-29.3%) and the full year (-19.8%). While this caused some erosion in Apple's 4Q23 market share, its full-year share was stable at more than 37% of the market.

Samsung remained in second place with somewhat better results and little change in its market share for the quarter and the year. Xiaomi and Huawei both saw solid growth in the fourth quarter – 35.0% and 21.2% respectively. Xiaomi’s aggressive marketing and expanding footprint worldwide helped the company to displace Amazon from the top 5 in 4Q23 while Huawei posted the best results among the top 5 companies for the full year, with shipments declining just 4.0% year over year.

NEEDHAM, Mass.—Economic uncertainties helped push worldwide tablet and Chromebook shipments sharply lower in Q3 2022 compared to a year earlier according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

The data showed that worldwide tablet shipments were down 8.8% year over year in Q3 2022, totaling 38.6 million units, and that Chromebook shipments fell to 4.3 million units, a year-over-year decline of 34.4%. 

Both markets have now shifted from supply constrained industries to ones that are demand challenged as consumer and education spending has slowed in the face of economic uncertainties, the IDC reported. 

IDC analysts also reported that Chinese vendors continue to do well in emerging markets where there is low-end demand and that sanctions from many vendors also enabled Chinese vendors like Huawei to perform well in the Russian market. 

Meanwhile, the emergence of low-priced Chinese OEMs like Realme, Xiaomi, Oppo and others, has fueled strong competition in the lower range devices. However, these gains still couldn't offset the decline experienced by the main tablet vendors.

Apple led in worldwide tablet shipments with 14.5 million units, a 37.5% market share, followed by Samsung (7.1 million shipments and a 18.4% share) and Amazon (4.3 million shipments and a 11.1% market share) in Q3 2022. 

"After massive growth in 2020 and 2021, a decline in the tablet market was expected in 2022. The market is now experiencing not only a slowdown in demand, but also some strong macro-economic headwinds. Even though most tablets (Android) and Chromebooks are lower cost, we're now seeing buyer concerns even at the low end. This is largely driven by these rising economic concerns," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "However, tablets have found many more use cases since the pandemic, from their role in the workspace to both in-person and remote learning, entertainment, and even digital transformations across various verticals."

"Chromebooks face a number of challenges in the industry, not all of which are because of limitations to the platform," said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers. "We firmly believe Chromebooks will continue to play a fundamental role in personal computing, and ultimately grow in presence compared to other existing platforms. But the growth will continue to be tempered as the industry adapts to this new environment we are all living in. We have seen many of the large PC brands prioritize around opportunities within the Windows PC space, and without their support from the supply side the Chrome market will continue to move rather slowly."

BOSTON—The ripple effects of the Covid pandemic continues to impact the tablet market and produced some surprising results in Q1 2022, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics. 

It reports that while vendors wrestle with supply constraints and logistical issues also stemming from the pandemic, strong demand for tablets continues and Samsung, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple all saw impressive growth rates in Q1 2022. 

A better than expected start to 2022 may be short-lived however, as COVID restrictions in China, additional logistic and inflationary pressures, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all threaten to hold back supply going forward, Strategy Analytics cautioned via its Computing Devices (CCD) service and its new report “Preliminary Global Tablet Shipments and Market Share: Q1 2022.” 

“Tablet demand never really went away despite shipment declines for the last three quarters,” said Eric Smith, director – Connected Computing. “This has all been about vendors managing the twin challenges of persistent demand and supply constraints. Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft pulled off great quarters given all the macro-level challenges with fresh portfolios and strong distribution strategies. Apple’s recovery from the supply constraints of last quarter was equally impressive as they actually grew shipments sequentially. That’s unheard of in this business, but with more disruptive factors at play, we should come to expect the unexpected.”

Chirag Upadhyay, industry analyst added, “Android tablet market share is at a new low of 50%, but competition has heated up among Android vendors looking to grab market share from Huawei’s smaller device footprint as well as the fast-shrinking white box market. Lenovo has been growing for more than two years with this strategy but Xiaomi, Honor, realme, OPPO, and even Nokia have recently jumped into the tablet market, creating new dynamics in mainland China and a handful of markets in south Asia, southeast Asia, and Europe.”

Apple iPadOS shipments (sell-in) fell -6% year-on-year to 15.8 million units in Q1 2022, with worldwide market share climbing 1.7 percentage points to 39% as the vendor outpaced the market, the researchers reported. 

Compared to the holiday quarter when Apple was severely supply-constrained, shipments were actually 1% higher quarter-on-quarter

Samsung led the Android market with only a -1.2% year-on-year decline in Q1 2022 to 8.2 million units; market share increased by 1.8 percentage points to 20% during the same period

Amazon was right behind Samsung growth-wise with a -1.3% annual decline with 3.7 million shipments; market share grew 0.8 percentage points to 9%

Lenovo tablet shipments fell once again after two years of growth but the company retained its #4 ranking globally as competition has heated up from smaller Chinese vendors; Lenovo shipments declined -20% year-on-year to 3.0 million units in Q1 2022 and market share fell -0.9 percentage point year-on-year to 7%

For the second quarter in a row, Microsoft broke into the #5 ranking globally in Q1 2022 with 1.4 million tablets shipped at a 1% annual growth rate; it was the only vendor in the top five to show growth. Market share increased by 0.4 percentage points to 3%

BOSTON—While supply constraints cratered tablet sales in Q4 2021, pushing shipments down by 25%, new data from Strategy Analytics shows that some players did better than others. 

Microsoft, for example, cashed in on the need for mobile productivity devices with a massive Surface portfolio refresh that improved sales and pushed it into the ranks of the top global tablet vendors for the first time ever. 

The new report from Strategy Analytics also noted that the supply constraints that hurt the market so badly at the end of 2021 seem to be easing. It cautioned, however, that it wasn’t clear if demand for new tables will continue into 2022 or if frustrated consumers had moved onto other interests. 

“Last year’s pre-vaccine holiday quarter was a tough one to compare against and when you add on the severe supply constraints impacting tablet vendors, it added up to a disappointing quarter,” explained Eric Smith, director – connected computing at Strategy Analytics. “The maddening thing is, demand far exceeded supply at the end of 2021, holding back higher revenues for everyone. There are signs that supply shortages are easing already in 2022, but we are not guiding this situation to end until after summer.”

“For the entire year, total tablet shipments fell just 3% to 183.1 million units,” Chirag Upadhyay, industry analyst at Strategy Analytics added. “Demand was steadily high through the year, but supply constraints caught up to all vendors by the end of the year. This is due to two factors. First, vendors prioritized notebook production to meet work-from-home and now hybrid work demand. Second, it was difficult to juggle sourcing components that tablets and smartphones share.”

Apple shipments (sell-in) fell 22% year-on-year to 14.6 million units in Q4 2021, with worldwide market share climbing 1 percentage point to 31% as the vendor outpaced the market

While remaining the top Android vendor, Samsung tablet shipments declined 28% year-on-year in Q4 2021 to 7.3 million units; market share declined by 0.7 percentage points to 16% during the same period, the researchers noted. 

Amazon performed the best among Android vendors with its deep holiday discounts; shipments declined 13% to 5.8 million units and market share grew 1.7 percentage points to 12%

Lenovo tablet shipments broke a nine-quarter streak of growth to fall 17% during Q4 2021 to reach 4.6 million units; market share climbed 1 percentage point year-on-year to 10%

For the first time ever, Microsoft cracked the top five global vendor list with tablet shipments totaling 1.9 million units and a marginal 1% year-on-year growth rate; market share increased by 1 percentage point to 4%

The full report from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices (CCD) service, "Preliminary Global Tablet Shipments and Market Share: Q4 2021 Results" can be found here. 

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LYON, FRANCE—Consumers now have a range of devices that they can ingest content through, but rather than replacing one with another, a recent study from ReportLinker indicates that consumers in the U.S. are amassing a multitude of screens in their homes.

According to the report, the average U.S. household owns 7.3 screens. TV remains the most popular, with 93 percent of respondents saying they have one; digital devices are also becoming more prominent in homes, such as smartphones (79 percent), laptops (78 percent) and tablets (68 percent). Desktop computers (63 percent) and video game consoles (52 percent) also showed up in a majority of responders homes.

The study took a particular focus on children’s relation with certain devices in the home. The report showed that TV remains the most popular device overall with 62 percent of mentions, but that tablets are actually the most popular among children 10 and younger, with 47 percent of respondents said their children used tablets; a reported 58 percent of children five and younger use tablets. “This device has the potential to unseat TV as the favorite of future generations,” ReportLinker wrote in its summary.

To see the other results from the study, visit ReportLinker.