Seoul, Aug 27 (IANS): Samsung Electronics expanded its presence in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) tablet market in the second quarter of the year, a report showed on Friday, despite an overall market decline.

The South Korean tech giant shipped 3.55 million tablets in the EMEA market in the April-June period for a 30.1 percent market share, according to the latest report from industry researcher International Data Corporation (IDC).

The figures were up from a year earlier when the company shipped 3.42 million Galaxy Tab tablets for a 28.6 percent market share.

"Samsung remained the market leader in EMEA, fueled by the strong position it holds in emerging markets," IDC said.

Apple maintained the runner-up spot with a market share of 25.4 percent after shipping 3 million tablets, up 17.2 percent from a year earlier, in the second quarter.

"Apple remains the solid leader in less price-sensitive countries, where often the iPad is the preferred choice for education deals," IDC said.

Chinese makers Lenovo Group and TCL came in third and fourth with market shares of 19.7 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively, after their tablet shipments grew sharply from a year earlier in the EMEA market, reports Yonhap news agency.

Lenovo's tablet shipments jumped 58.1 percent on-year to 23.2 million units in the second quarter, while those of TCL expanded 69.5 percent, the largest among the top five brands, to 461,000 units.

"Lenovo posted a considerable market share growth, capitalizing on the strong decline of important names in the smart connected device space, such as Huawei," IDC said. "TCL made its first appearance in the top five rankings, leveraging its presence in telco and expansion into the commercial segment."

Amazon.com Inc. took the fifth position with a market share of 3.5 percent after shipping 412,000 tablets in the second quarter.

The overall EMEA tablet market in the second quarter fell to 11.8 million units, down 1.7 percent from a year ago, the first quarterly contraction since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to a slowdown in consumer demand, according to IDC.

For the second half of 2021, IDC expected the EMEA tablet market to see 24.3 million devices shipped, down 10.9 percent from a year earlier.

"The decline will be seen as demand has started showing signs of exhaustion as lockdowns are lifted, while education deals are not expected to generate similar volumes for the rest of the year as in the last 12 months," it said.

For all of 2021, IDC estimated the EMEA tablet market to shrink 1.1 percent from a year earlier.