New Delhi, May 31 (IANS): The tablet shipments in the consumer segment declined 28 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the same period last year, resulting in a sharp 18.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) drop in total tablet shipments in India, a report said on Wednesday.

According to market research firm International Data Corporation's (IDC) "Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker" report, 701,000 tablets were shipped in India in the first quarter of 2017 -- a marginal drop of 2.2 per cent from 716,000 units in the previous quarter.

"Owing to the growing digital proliferation across industries, commercial segment especially large enterprise, government and education sectors are expected to increase their demand for tablets. This will drive vendors to focus more aggressively in gaining market share in the commercial market to sustain the India tablet market," said Celso Gomes, Associate Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India.

Samsung leads the tablet market with 21.3 per cent share. Samsung shipments increased four per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) primarily due to healthy growth in commercial shipments.

Samsung's Galaxy J Max continues to be the top selling model for the company driven primarily by consumer segment, followed by Galaxy Tab A.

Datawind secured the second position with 20.7 per cent market share. Lenovo stood third with 20 per cent market share as shipments remained stable over previous quarter, the findings showed.

iBall maintained its fourth place with 4.7 per cent QoQ in the first quarter of 2017. Apple maintained its fifth-place position despite shipments declining by 38.2 per cent compared to previous quarter.

iPad Air 2 remained the top selling model for Apple constituting more than half of its total shipments.Limited shipments of iPad mini, which accounted for over one-third of total shipments last quarter, would result in shrinking of iOS market in India, the report added.