Telecom Lead America: IDC has shared market share of tablet PC makers in Q4 2012 and Apple is dominating the market with 43.6 percent share.
IDC said worldwide tablet shipments reached 52.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), increasing 75.3 percent from 29.9 million units in 4Q11.
Lower average selling prices (ASPs), a range of new product offerings, and increased holiday spending acted as catalysts.
Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets, at IDC, said: “New product launches from top vendors, as well as new entrant Microsoft, led to a surge in consumer interest and very robust shipments totals during the holiday season.”
Apple’s iPad shipment reached 22.9 million units.
A strong iPad mini launch, plus availability of the fourth generation full-sized iPad, led to 48.1 percent shipment growth. Strong competition led to Apple’s market share declining to 43.6 percent from 46.4 percent last quarter.
Number two vendor Samsung experienced 263 percent year-on-year growth, shipping nearly 8 million combined Android and Windows 8 tablets during the quarter to grab 15.1 percent of the market.
Amazon shipped more than 6 million tablets, increasing its share to 11.5 percent.
Barnes & Noble shipped close to a million units, increasing its share to 1.9 percent.
Asus’s share slipped from 7.8 percent to 5.8 percent despite continued strong shipments of its Google-branded Nexus 7 tablet.
Microsoft shipped 900,000 units into the channel.
“There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul. However, devices based upon its new Windows 8 and Windows RT operating systems failed to gain much ground during their launch quarter, and reaction to the company’s Surface with Windows RT tablet was muted at best,” said Ryan Reith, program manager, Mobile Device Trackers at IDC.
| Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Tablet Shipments, Fourth Quarter 2012 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in millions) |
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| Vendor | 4Q12 Shipments |
4Q12 Market Share |
4Q11 Shipments |
4Q11 Market Share |
4Q12/4Q11 Growth |
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| 1. Apple | 22.9 | 43.6 percent | 15.5 | 51.7 percent | 48.1 percent | |||||||||||||||
| 2. Samsung | 7.9 | 15.1 percent | 2.2 | 7.3 percent | 263.0 percent | |||||||||||||||
| 3. Amazon.com Inc. | 6.0 | 11.5 percent | 4.7 | 15.9 percent | 26.8 percent | |||||||||||||||
| 4. ASUS | 3.1 | 5.8 percent | 0.6 | 2.0 percent | 402.3 percent | |||||||||||||||
| 5. Barnes & Noble | 1.0 | 1.9 percent | 1.4 | 4.6 percent | -27.7 percent | |||||||||||||||
| Others | 11.6 | 22.1 percent | 5.5 | 18.5 percent | 108.9 percent | |||||||||||||||
| All Vendors | 52.5 | 100 percent | 29.9 | 100 percent | 75.3 percent | |||||||||||||||
| Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, January 31, 2013 (preliminary data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
