Beancounters at IDC have released a new report on the state of the tablet market in Western Europe in the first quarter of 2017. As you might expect, the numbers are pretty rubbish as the market continues to slide.

The tablet market in this region posted a contraction of 1.7 percent year-over-year in the period under review. A total of 7.1 million units were shipped with the recovery in sales of Android tablets being the main driver of sales.

But while the previous market leader, Apple saw its sales fall, it was at the expensive of Samsung which posted year-over-year growth in the first quarter of this year.
This pushed down the iPad to second place and made Samsung the top tablet vendor in Western Europe in the first quarter of 2017.

Data shows that Samsung shipped 1.89 million tablets in the first quarter of this year compared to 1.6 million units in the same period last year. It now accounts for 26.5 percent of the tablet market share in Western Europe, registering a 17.9 percent year-over-year growth.

Apple shipped 1.54 million units of the iPad compared to 1.74 million units in the same period last year. It now accounts for 21.7 percent of the tablet market in Western Europe and has seen a year-over-year decline of 11.5 percent.

The report said that iPads account for almost 50 percent of all tablets priced above €600. This means that customers in Western Europe who want to waste money on an expensive tablet which is going to offer them little in the way of usability are more likely to pick up an iPad than any other tablet.

Sensible people are more likely to buy something cheaper which does what they want.