Lenovo: Global tablet shipments up 27% YoY in Q2, China revenue up 165%

The tablet market is entering a new growth phase, fueled by the integration of artificial intelligence. According to IDC data, global tablet shipments grew by 5% year-over-year in 2025, with the market continuing to expand. IDC further projects that by 2026, the penetration rate of AI-capable tablets will reach 74.3%. User expectations are shifting—from watching videos and attending online classes to organizing knowledge, assisting with creative work, and handling daily tasks. AI is entering more high-frequency usage scenarios and becoming a key driver of tablet value upgrades.

Lenovo has demonstrated a clear first-mover advantage. On September 18, at a media group interview held at Lenovo’s global headquarters, senior executives—including Jia Zhaohui, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Innovation Center; Zhang Hua, Senior Vice President and General Manager of China Consumer Business Group; Chen Ke, Vice President and General Manager of the Tablet Business Unit; and Li Weichang, Vice President and General Manager of China Consumer Personal Computing and Smart Terminal Business—shared Lenovo’s tablet business progress and AI strategy.

According to data disclosed during the interview, Lenovo’s global tablet shipments grew approximately 27% year-over-year in the second quarter, capturing an 11.8% market share. In China, sales volume surged 70% quarter-over-quarter, while revenue jumped 165%. This simultaneous rise in both volume and revenue in the Chinese market represents a phenomenal growth trajectory for Lenovo tablets.

1. Rising AI Demand Opens New Growth Space for Tablets

Large screens, touch interaction, and portability have always been core advantages of tablets. Now, with improvements in on-device model capabilities and the maturation of cloud-device collaboration, these advantages are combining with AI to support richer learning, office, and creative tasks.

For students, the need can be as specific as a single class: while listening and taking handwritten notes, can the device automatically consolidate recordings, course materials, and annotations into review-ready notes afterward? For young professionals and creators, the need might involve a document or a video: can the device understand existing content, access a personal knowledge base, and reduce steps across apps and devices? These tasks give clear practical value to the combination of AI and tablets.

Zhang Hua described the tablet as a “natural container for AI.” In his view, AI is also driving an upgrade in human-computer interaction. Voice and other natural language interactions will play a more important role. Tablets, with their large screens, long battery life, and portability, can support multiple input methods, providing an ideal interface for personal AI.

This shift means that the growth driver for tablets is extending from device replacement to the expansion of practical value. If AI helps users accomplish more, it can lead to higher usage frequency, broader user coverage, and new purchasing demand.

2. Product Value Enhancement Behind Phenomenal Growth

Lenovo’s tablet growth is reflected not only in scale but also in product structure.

In China, sales volume grew 70% quarter-over-quarter, while revenue grew 165%—the latter significantly outpacing the former. Combined with the performance of high-end products, it is clear that Lenovo is expanding into higher-value market segments by enhancing product value.

Li Weichang noted that the Lenovo Legion Y900 13-inch tablet, launched in May, achieved the top market share in the 13-inch tablet segment within just two months of release. He also disclosed that Legion tablets now account for over 50% of Lenovo’s tablet product mix. From small-sized gaming tablets to large-screen light productivity devices, the Legion series has gradually formed a product matrix covering diverse needs.

In Li Weichang’s view, the value of high-end products comes from solving user needs: “We create additional value for customers that other manufacturers haven’t addressed. Customers are willing to pay for that extra value—that’s the definition of high-end.”

This explains why Lenovo attributes its growth to long-term accumulation. Gaming experience, mobile connectivity, stylus interaction, AI learning, and cross-device collaboration are all tangible values that users can perceive. Continuously refining products around these needs transforms technical investment into purchase decisions.

Jia Zhaohui stated during the interview that all current Lenovo tablets are fully equipped with Tianxi AI. This brings AI into a broader product lineup and provides a foundation for continuous upgrades across tablets at different price points and positioning. Lenovo’s growth is advancing in tandem with the deployment of this capability.

3. System-Level Native AI Gives Lenovo a First-Mover Advantage

Understanding Lenovo’s AI strategy requires recognizing a key distinction: adding AI applications to a device versus redesigning the system around AI leads to very different product experiences.

Jia Zhaohui summarized these two paths as “+AI” and “AI+.” The former adds AI features to existing products, while the latter reorganizes the relationship between systems, hardware, and applications based on AI capabilities and user needs. For tasks that require cross-app and cross-device coordination, underlying synergy is critical.

Lenovo has chosen system-level native AI. Built on the Tianxi AI foundation, it integrates model scheduling, system services, hardware interaction, and cross-device capabilities. Through on-device and cloud model collaboration, as well as MCP protocols, it enables AI to call tools, connect applications, and execute tasks. When a user makes a request, the system can mobilize relevant capabilities, reducing manual switching and repetitive operations.

According to Jia Zhaohui, the Lenovo Legion Y900 series is the only tablet product to achieve the highest L3 level of China’s national AI standard, and Lenovo is currently the only manufacturer with tablets reaching this level. This milestone provides phased validation of system-level native AI capabilities. He attributed this to long-term technological innovation, developing practical AI around user needs, and continuous ecosystem building.

“We are not doing AI for the sake of doing AI,” Jia Zhaohui said. Everyday tasks may seem simple, but they often require coordination between the system, hardware, and multiple applications. Whether these links can be connected determines whether AI can truly complete tasks for users.

The “one system, multiple devices” approach further expands the boundaries of this capability. According to Zhang Hua, Lenovo’s personal AI strategy in China uses Tianxi AI as the main entry point, connecting PCs, tablets, phones, and AIoT devices, allowing personal AI to work across individual devices.

Since the first version was released in April 2024, Tianxi AI has been continuously iterated. The Tianxi AI 4.3 version highlighted during the interview focuses on three areas: edge-device-cloud collaboration, autonomous task execution, and multi-device coordination.

The edge-device-cloud architecture allows different tasks to use appropriate computing power and models. High-sensitivity data and tasks can be processed on the device or edge side, while Lenovo’s AI host and other edge devices can maximize local execution of complex tasks. Broader tasks are handled by the cloud, balancing privacy and usage costs. Autonomous task execution pushes AI from answering questions to completing operations. Multi-device coordination is reflected in the integration of knowledge bases, communication context and memory, and task execution and handoff: a user can initiate a task on a tablet, call on a PC’s computing power and knowledge base, and receive results back on the tablet.

“I describe Tianxi AI as a versatile science student. It accesses your own on-device knowledge base, memory, and context—it understands you better and is more rational, rather than using generalized public information and data,” Zhang Hua said.

For tablets, this means a portable device can connect to a more complete personal AI capability. The tablet’s interaction advantages, the PC’s computing power, and the personal knowledge base can work together, forming Lenovo’s differentiated advantage in this competitive landscape.

4. From Learning to Creation: Embedding AI in Complete Task Workflows

The value of system capabilities must be demonstrated through specific scenarios. Lenovo is focusing on enabling AI to run through the entire process of completing a task.

College student learning is a typical scenario. Chen Ke noted that after visiting universities, the team found that while students use tablets extensively, the constant switching between note-taking, taking photos, searching for information, and organizing notes often disrupts the learning process.

To address this, Lenovo plans to launch a learning experience covering pre-class, in-class, and post-class phases: before class, push relevant knowledge points based on the schedule and time; during class, support handwriting, recording, and photo capture via phone with Super Connect back to the tablet; after class, use large models to organize recordings, course materials, screenshots, photos, and selected questions to generate rich-text class notes.

“When you come back from playing soccer, your notes are already organized, optimized with your personal understanding of the knowledge points—customized class notes,” Chen Ke described the experience the team aims to deliver. When reviewing, students can view text, audio, photos, and video in the same note, leaving more attention for the knowledge itself.

The stylus is another key interaction focus for Lenovo. “Pick it up and write; to erase, just turn the pen,” Jia Zhaohui explained, illustrating that interaction upgrades should allow users to express intent naturally.

In the design described by Chen Ke, the AI stylus combines a proprietary pen protocol, vibration and sound feedback, and recognition of selected content, connecting writing actions with AI capabilities. Selecting course materials or text can trigger translation or summarization; selecting images can trigger saving or AI editing. The pen thus serves as a richer task entry point.

Multimodal interaction is the next direction. When a user writes while saying “save this content,” the AI must simultaneously understand the written content, the verbal reference, and the user’s intent to accurately complete the action. Around such natural interaction, coordination between pen, voice, touch, and keyboard will continue to improve.

Chen Ke believes that compared to phones and PCs, tablet penetration still has room to grow, and AI brings new opportunities for this category. “After integrating pen, keyboard, screen, and AI capabilities—whether held in hand or placed in a backpack—the tablet should become an indispensable personal intelligent companion.”

Content creation is another focus. Zhang Hua previewed during the interview that Tianxi AI 4.5, planned for October release, will further integrate programming capabilities. Li Weichang revealed that Lenovo plans to launch an integrated hardware-software solution for mass creators, supporting short video creation in local environments.

From class notes to content creation, these initiatives point to the same product goal: enabling AI to understand the context of a task and help users complete multiple steps continuously. The advantages of system-level native AI will be demonstrated in such real-world usage.

5. User Co-Creation and Continuous Iteration Sustain Growth Momentum

AI capabilities evolve rapidly, and user behavior changes accordingly. Lenovo incorporates user feedback and software iteration into the product lifecycle, ensuring devices continue to improve after delivery.

Zhang Hua introduced Lenovo’s “two-pole driven” innovation approach. One pole is technological innovation, continuously accumulating computing power, algorithms, and data capabilities. The other is user experience, determining what problems technology should solve and in what product form. R&D, production, supply, sales, and service thus collaborate around shared user needs.

The product definition of the Y700 Wuji reflects this approach. Users want constant connectivity during commutes and on the subway, and they also want gaming tablets to remain compact for easy handling. The team combined 5G connectivity with an 8.4-inch screen and conducted research on details like screen size and refresh rate.

Beyond connectivity, users also care about data costs. Zhang Hua explained that the team integrated industry resources to offer a free data plan of 1,500GB per month, totaling 18,000GB per year, for this product. Li Weichang added that during product definition, the team conducted extensive research, with product managers even visiting university classrooms to observe students’ actual usage needs.

After product launch, the built-in “Super Core Community” continues to collect user feedback. Users can submit needs and optimization suggestions. The team uses AI to identify common issues and key details, then incorporates this feedback into subsequent updates. Zhang Hua calls this approach “user co-creation innovation.”

This is complemented by the “Monthly New” mechanism. According to Chen Ke, Lenovo pushes new Tianxi AI experiences to users each month, optimizing based on previous usage and evaluations. Community feedback helps the team identify issues, while continuous updates bring improvements back to users.

“AI changes too fast—no one can claim today’s approach is absolutely right,” Chen Ke said. Maintaining rapid iteration allows products to keep pace with user needs and AI capability changes. For Lenovo, this continuous improvement capability is an important foundation for turning阶段性 growth into long-term user recognition.

6. Expanding Personal AI Scenarios with a Complete Product Matrix

As AI experiences continue to improve, Lenovo’s tablet user base is also expanding. Different users require different screen sizes, interaction methods, and software services. The product matrix and system capabilities must work together.

The Legion Y900 series targets college students with large-screen native AI tablets, covering learning, creation, gaming, and entertainment—high-frequency scenarios for students. The Legion Y700 series targets college students and heavy mobile gamers, creating a small-screen e-sports tablet category. The newly launched Legion Y700 Wuji continues the small-screen e-sports DNA, creating a new category of personal mobile e-sports terminals. Lenovo’s next focus is to further serve college students and young professionals entering the workforce, extending product capabilities accumulated in gaming scenarios to learning, information organization, daily office work, and creation.

Jia Zhaohui outlined a clear direction during the interview: “We are already the first choice in the gaming tablet segment. Next, for the college student segment, it won’t take long before we become the first choice as well. The third target user group is young workplace newcomers.” Lenovo aims to deepen experience in each scenario to expand user coverage.

The K12 learning segment is addressed by the Xiaoxin tablet series. Its products cover 11 to 13 inches, combining “Tianjiao Academy” with Tianxi AI learning services, exploring everything from identifying problems and providing answers to explaining knowledge in ways more suitable for students. The team is also experimenting with concept validations using different character avatars to explain related knowledge, offering more possibilities for learning interaction.

Li Weichang also revealed during the interview that the Xiaoxin tablet plans to launch products supporting “three-mode switching,” further combining display experience with online classes, reading, and other learning scenarios. The joint upgrade of display experience and AI learning services will enrich the usage methods of this product line.

For broader audiences, Lenovo is also promoting tablet applications and AI literacy through projects like the Lenovo Foundation’s “Little Sapling Plan.” The expansion of the product matrix thus connects with more people’s actual learning and life needs.

Supporting this layout is Lenovo’s coordination across terminals, systems, and ecosystems. PCs, tablets, phones, and AIoT devices provide different usage entry points, while Tianxi AI connects personal knowledge, context, and tasks. The pen protocol, Super Connect, and related SDKs and APIs provide a foundation for developers to participate in experience building.

This is also the key to Lenovo leading the AI tablet experience upgrade: system-level native AI handles underlying coordination, a complete terminal matrix supports cross-device tasks, and user co-creation with continuous updates drives ongoing experience improvement. The growth data reflects阶段性 results, while the accumulated product and system capabilities lay the foundation for the next phase of competition.

AI is opening a new growth cycle for tablets. As users increasingly value what a tablet can help them accomplish, Lenovo has leveraged its early investment in system-level native AI to translate technical capabilities into learning, creation, and daily interaction. The phenomenal growth thus has a clearer explanation: creating new product value around user needs and continuously expanding the people and scenarios this value can reach.