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San Francisco / AFP
The tablet market shrank in the recently-ended quarter, as shipments of bargain-priced computers with detachable screens hit a record high, according to market analysis firm International Data Corporation. Tablet makers shipped 43 million units in the quarter, down 14.7 percent from the number shipped in the same period a year earlier, according to an IDC global quarterly report.
Meanwhile, shipments of “detachables,†computers with screens that can dock into keyboards to be used laptop style or undocked and used tablet style, priced less than $200 surged, IDC analysts said. Precise numbers for detachable computers were not provided in the IDC release. Apple dominated the tablet market with a share of 21.5 percent, some 9.3 million iPads, strengthening its position despite shipping 6.2 percent fewer than in the same quarter last year, IDC reported. Samsung held on to the number two position, prompting IDC to conclude that there appeared to be no “bleed over†from a massive Galaxy Note 7 recall that has tarnished the South Korean giant’s image. Samsung shipped 6.5 million tablets in a drop of 19.3 percent from the same quarter a year earlier,
according to IDC.