After two consecutive years of decline, the global tablet applications processor (AP) market returned to growth and registered a 5% year-over-year growth to reach $984 million in the first half of 2017, according to Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com)

The research group says Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung captured the top-five revenue share rankings in the tablet AP market. The market leader Apple gained share and increased its tablet AP revenue share to 37% in in the first half of 2017. Intel and Qualcomm grabbed the number two and three spots with 18% revenue share and 16% share, respectively.

"The global tablet AP market continued to show signs of stabilization from past few quarters with slower year-on-year declines. Despite this encouraging trend, tablet AP vendors have to contend with a significantly smaller overall market in the first half of 2017 compared to two years ago,” says analyst Sravan Kundojjala. “”Strategy Analytics believes that the mature market pushed many of the tablet AP vendors to shift focus from high volume low-cost tablet APs to relatively lower volume but higher value tablet APs. This trend had boosted tablet AP average selling prices (ASPs) in the first half of 2017 on a sequential basis."