Against a backdrop of uncertainty about the health of the tablet market, IDC said that third-quarter tablet shipments increased by 11.5 per cent year-on-year, driven by a strong performance from the US.
The US tablet market posted faster-than-average growth of 18.5 per cent.
“We saw Verizon continuing to sell connected tablets at a fast pace, a strategy that we believe other carriers will replicate in following quarters. We also saw [consumer electronics company] RCA enter the top 5, impacting the entire US market and worldwide ranking with one large deal linked to back-to-school and channel fill ahead of Black Friday,” said Jean Philippe Bouchard, research director for tablets at IDC.
Despite a continued shipment decline for the iPad, Apple maintained its lead in the market, shipping 12.3 million units. Samsung retained its second place, with 9.9 million units shipped.
ASUS regained its number three position, with 3.5 million shipments, ahead of Lenovo in fourth with 3 million. In the second quarter, these two companies were the other way around.
The top 5 was rounded-out by RCA, which shipped 2.6 million units, primarily in one country – the US.
And 41.8 per cent of tablet shipments went to companies outside of the top five, indicating the number of players participating at smaller volume levels.
“Although the low-cost vendors are moving a lot of volume, the top vendors, like Apple, continue to rake in the dollars. A sub-$100 tablet simply isn’t sustainable — Apple knows this — and it’s likely the reason they aren’t concerned with market share erosion,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior researcher for IDC’s quarterly tablet tracker.
Comments