Canalys: Global tablet shipments reached 39 million units in the second quarter of 2025, up 9% year-on-year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to data from Canalys (now merged into Omdia), global tablet shipments reached 39 million units in the second quarter of 2025, up 9% year on year and 5% month on month. This strong performance was mainly due to stable demand in China and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region. Meanwhile, the Chromebook market performed well. Benefiting from educational equipment updates promoted by Japan's GIGA school project, shipments reached 11 million units in the first half of 2025. In addition to Japan, the public sector in various markets is also providing financial support for educational equipment, which is expected to continue to drive Chromebook shipments to remain high in 2025 and beyond.

Himani Mukka, research manager at Canalys (now merged into Omdia), said: “The global tablet market continued to show strong growth in the second quarter, supported by China's consumer subsidy policy and driven by global commercial tenders. The market is also benefiting from a wave of new product launches, particularly in the field of gaming tablets. As consumer interest in gaming scenarios grows, gaming tablets have become a growing segment, especially in Asia. Notable novelties include Xiaomi's Redmi K Pad (8.8 inch) and Vivo's Pad5, and Lenovo's Legion Tab quarterly shipments have doubled. Vendors are also using tablets as a key component of their connected ecosystem strategy. Honor was the first to release the “Alpha” plan in the first quarter, while Xiaomi launched the “Full Ecology of People and Cars” strategy in May, which aims to seamlessly integrate smartphones, tablets, smart home devices, and even new energy vehicles. The newly released Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra is the core control hub in this ecosystem.”

In the tablet market, Apple continues to rank first, with iPad shipments reaching 14.1 million units in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 2% over the previous year. Samsung ranked second with 6.7 million units shipped. The third to fifth ranked manufacturers achieved significant growth, driven by strong demand in the mainland China market. Huawei surpassed Lenovo to third place, with shipments of 3.2 million units, an increase of 29% over the previous year; Lenovo and Xiaomi ranked in the top five with 3.1 million units and 3 million units respectively. Thanks to its strong offline channels in the Chinese market, Xiaomi has further narrowed the gap with Lenovo.

Kieren Jessop, research manager at Canalys (now merged into Omdia), said: “Driven by Japan's GIGA school project continuing to advance equipment updates, the Chromebook market is entering a recovery period. Due to the gradual acceleration of government-funded procurement activities, shipments to Japan increased more than 20 times over the same period last year. This peak in demand is expected to continue until mid-2026.

Jessop added, “In recent months, Japan's education ecosystem has been particularly active. Manufacturers, distributors, and edtech partners are stepping up their promotion efforts through various promotional activities and educational exhibitions, and are striving to occupy more market share in this round of equipment renewal cycles. At the 'EDIX Tokyo' Education Fair to be held in April 2025, leading PC manufacturers and platform providers showcased their devices and operating systems to communicate the advantages of their products to key education decision makers. In addition to shipments related to the GIGA project, Chromebooks also have very positive prospects in the wider Asian market, and many countries have made them a priority choice for education deployment in 2025.”

In the first half of 2025, with an important position in Japan's GIGA school project, Lenovo led the global Chromebook market, with shipments reaching 3.5 million units, an increase of 27% over the previous year. HP ranked second, but the market share was taken over by Lenovo, and annual shipments fell slightly by 4% year over year. As an important brand in the Asian market, Acer achieved healthy growth of 10% and shipped 2.2 million units. Dell ranked fourth, with shipments of 1.5 million units, down 5% year over year. With strong demand performance driven by the GIGA project, Asus shipped 800,000 units, an increase of 43% over the previous year, and ranked in the top five.