Worldwide tablet shipments increased by 36.7% year-over-year to reach 47.6 million units in the third quarter of 2013, with Android dominating the market, according to a report from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
According to the report, Android OS based devices spurred the growth of the shipments during the period, while iOS device shipments declined and the Windows tablets struggled to compete during the quarter.
Apple’s new launches in the last two quarters could not prevent decline in its market share to 29.6% with decrease in shipments to 14.1 million in the quarter.
Analysts expect that Apple’s shipments would rise following the launch of new iPad Air which are scheduled to be shipped from 01 November and the refreshed iPad mini with Retina scheduled to launch in late November this year.
IDC Tablet Tracker research analyst Jitesh Ubrani said with two 7.9-inch models starting at $299 and $399, and two 9.7-inch models starting at $399 and $499, Apple is taking steps to appeal to multiple segments.
"While some undoubtedly hoped for more aggressive pricing from Apple, the current prices clearly reflect Apple’s ongoing strategy to maintain its premium status," Ubrani added.
Samsung shipped about 9.7 million tablets during the quarter to secure second position with 20.4% market share, followed by ASUS that sold about 3.5 million total units accounting to 7.4% market share.
Lenovo was positioned fourth in the list with 2.3 million tablet shipments, a 4.8% share and Acer occupied fifth with shipment of 1.2 million units and a 2.5% share.
IDC Tablets research director Tom Mainelli said white box tablet shipments continue to constitute a fairly large percentage of the Android devices shipped into the market.
"These low cost Android-based products make tablets available to a wider market of consumers, which is good," Mainelli added.
"Android’s growth in tablets has been stunning to watch, but shipments alone won’t guarantee long-term success."
For that you need a sustainable hardware business model, a healthy ecosystem for developers, and happy end users."
