A lack of product launches and the continued improvement of competing products has led to a complete flip in worldwide tablet shipments between Apple and its Android foes in the past year, according to data released Monday by research firm IDC. Although still the number one tablet manufacturer, Apple’s shipment market share declined year-over-year while rival Samsung’s tablet shipments soared.
| Worldwide Tablet Shipments by Vendor (Millions of Units) Source: IDC |
Q2 2013 | Q2 2013 Market Share | Q2 2012 | Q2 2012 Market Share | Year-Over-Year Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 14.6 | 32.4% | 17.0 | 60.3% | -14.1% |
| Samsung | 8.1 | 18.0% | 2.1 | 7.6% | 277.0% |
| ASUS | 2.0 | 4.5% | 0.9 | 3.3% | 120.3% |
| Lenovo | 1.5 | 3.3% | 0.4 | 1.3% | 313.9% |
| Acer | 1.4 | 3.1% | 0.4 | 1.4% | 247.9% |
| Others | 17.5 | 38.8% | 7.4 | 26.2% | 136.6% |
| Total | 45.1 | 100.0% | 28.3 | 100.0% | 59.6% |
Switching from manufacturer to operating system, iOS has now taken a firm second place among new tablet shipments in the face of Android’s accelerating growth.
| Tablet Operating Systems (Millions of Units) Source: IDC |
Q2 2013 | Q2 2013 Shipments | Q2 2012 | Q2 2012 Shipments | Year-Over-Year Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 28.2 | 62.6% | 10.7 | 38.0% | 162.9% |
| iOS | 14.6 | 32.5% | 17.0 | 60.3% | -14.1% |
| Windows | 1.8 | 4.0% | 0.3 | 1.0% | 527.0% |
| Windows RT | 0.2 | 0.5% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| BlackBerry | 0.1 | 0.3% | 0.2 | 0.7% | -32.8% |
| Others | 0.1 | 0.2% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Although down from the first quarter of 2013, tablet shipments were up 59.6 percent over the same quarter last year. Despite the quarter-over-quarter decline, the tablet market continues to grow, with the decline attributed to a lack of new products. Apple in particular failed to launch a new iPad model this spring for the first time in the product’s history, opting instead for an early update to the fourth-generation iPad last fall.
The lack of a new iPad this year also failed to drive consumer attention to the tablet market overall, something that has traditionally helped even Apple’s competitors. Tom Mainelli, Research Director for IDC’s tablet division, explains:
A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors. With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that’s likely to continue into the third quarter. However, by the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market.
Microsoft’s tablet strategy, powered by its x86-based Windows 8 and ARM-based Windows RT products, continued to grow, but at a slower pace than the Redmond firm predicted. The company was forced to write off $900 million last month due to unsold Surface RT inventory, and has recently slashed prices on the Surface Pro to spur adoption of the product.
It’s important to note that IDC’s numbers represent shipments, and not usage share, so the numbers in Monday’s report are quarterly totals for tablets shipped by each manufacturer to both direct consumers and retailers. This means that actual usage share, including existing tablets, is significantly different. While measuring actual usage share is difficult and controversial, a recent reports from Chitika suggests that the iPad still holds a commanding lead in the U.S. and Canada.
