Global sales of tablet PCs tumbled more than 12 percent in 2015 from a year earlier as a slumping world economy crimped demand for information technology products, industry data showed Sunday.

A total of 168.5 million tablet PCs were sold across the world last year, down 12.2 percent from the previous year, according to data by market tracker TrendForce.

It is the first time that global shipments of tablet PCs have fallen at a double-digit rate.

Apple led the world‘s tablet PC market last year, but its sales nosedived 22 percent on-year to 60.34 million units with its market share sinking to 29.4 percent from 33 percent.

Samsung Electronics ranked second with worldwide sales of 33.6 million units, which was down 18 percent from a year earlier.

Its market share also fell to 19.5 percent from 21.4 percent.

TrendForce forecast Apple’s market share will likely reach 25 percent this year, with Samsung‘s share expected to come to 20 percent. (Yonhap)