Beijing, Aug 6 (IANS): Apple maintained its leading status despite sharp decline in its tablet shipments in China with a market share of 31 percent, down from 45 percent a year ago, after its iPad shipments fell 48 percent on-year to 1.72 million units in the second quarter, a report showed on Friday.

Samsung and Lenovo capitalised on renewed demand for tablets in the consumer space.

Samsung and Lenovo both enjoyed strong annual growth, of 78 per cent and 299 per cent, respectively, to take third and fourth place in Q2 2021, according to market research firm Canalys.

Disrupted by multiple sanctions and the Honor spin-off, Huawei's shipments fell by more than 60 per cent to just over 1 million at the second place.

Honor came in fifth, shipping 0.6 million units, benefiting greatly from its expansion in offline distribution this year after its spin-off.

"The hybrid classroom and workplace are a global factor behind tablet growth. Vendors see the desire for one device per person as a huge opportunity, and smart classes and the healthcare digitalisation as key drivers for expanding their portfolios," said Canalys analyst Emma Xu.

Total PC shipments in China fell by 3 per cent (year on year) in Q2 but increased 13 per cent sequentially to reach 19.4 million units.

Desktop, notebook and tablet shipments all grew against a weak Q1.

Lenovo solidified its leadership position further with 31 per cent year-on-year growth, to take 40 per cent of the market with shipments of 5.6 million units. Dell enjoyed 32 per cent (year-on-year) growth, benefiting from strong growth of both desktops and workstations.

HP and Asus both moved up a place due to Huawei's fall, coming third and fourth, though HP's shipments fell 3 per cent to 1.1 million, while Asus grew 25 per cent year on year with 0.9 million units shipped.

Huawei found itself in fifth place after a 64 per cent year-on-year drop in shipments.

"Honor's spin-off has contributed to Huawei's decline, but its lack of new notebooks is the main cause, and this will create more competition among the other vendors," said Research Director Rushabh Doshi.

Looking ahead, component shortages will remain a key growth inhibitor for the rest of 2021, and price rises will further hinder tablet growth, said the report.