The tablet market continued to show strong growth in Q3 2012. Shipments reached 27.8 million units, a 49.5% growth over the same quarter a year ago and 6.7% over Q2 2012. Apple continued to dominate despite slowing sales (tied in part to anticipation for the iPad mini). Android made strong gains thanks in large part to Samsung and ASUS.
“After a very strong second quarter, Apple saw growth slow as both consumer and commercial (including education) shipments declined, and rumors of a forthcoming iPad mini began to heat up,” said Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets at IDC. “We believe a sizeable percentage of consumers interested in buying an Apple tablet sat out the third quarter in anticipation of an announcement about the new iPad mini. Now that the new mini, and a fourth-generation full-sized iPad, are both shipping we expect Apple to have a very good quarter. However, we believe the mini’s relatively high $329 starting price leaves plenty of room for Android vendors to build upon the success they achieved in the third quarter.”
Here are the full numbers:
| Vendor | 3Q12 Shipments | 3Q12 Market Share | 3Q11 Shipments | 3Q11 Market Share | Year-over-year Change |
| Apple | 14.0 | 50.4% | 11.1 | 59.7% | 26.1% |
| Samsung | 5.1 | 18.4% | 1.2 | 6.5% | 325.0% |
| Amazon.com | 2.5 | 9.0% | NA | NA | NA |
| ASUS | 2.4 | 8.6% | 0.7 | 3.8% | 242.9% |
| Lenovo | 0.4 | 1.4% | 0.2 | 1.1% | 100% |
| Others | 3.3 | 12.2% | 5.4 | 28.9% | -38.9% |
| All vendors | 27.8 | 100.0% | 18.6 | 100.0% | 49.5% |
| Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, November 5, 2012 (preliminary data) | |||||
The next few quarters will be interesting to watch. Apple has now launched its iPad mini (and fourth-generation iPad) and tablets powered by Microsoft’s new Windows 8 and Windows RT operating systems are also now hitting the market.
Read more: IDC