Samsung captured 20% of the Smart Connected Devices market share by collectively shipping 250 million PCs, tablets, and smartphones during 2012.
Apple captured 18.2% of the market share during the year, according to a new report from IDC.
However, Apple topped the list of tablet shipments, and captured eighth and fifth positions in portable PC desktop PC shipments respectively.
IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker, revealed that overall desktop PCs and portable PCs declined 4.1% and 3.4%, respectively, while the smart connected device space surged to over 1.2 billion shipments in 2012.
According to the report, tablet shipments rose 78.4% during 2012 over 2011, while smartphones reported a 46.1% growth and accounted for 60.1% of all smart connected devices shipped during the period.
IDC Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers program manager, Ryan Reith, said that smartphones and tablets are growing at a pace that PCs can’t realistically keep up with because of device prices and disposability.
"The average selling price (ASP) for a tablet declined 15.0% in 2012 to $461, and we expect that trend to continue in 2013," Reith said.
"However, smartphone APSs are still lower at $408. We expect smartphones to continue to carry a shorter life cycle than PCs for the years to come based on price, use case, and overall device size."
During the fourth quarter of 2012 (Q412), global vendors shipped about 367.7 million desktop PCs, portable PCs, tablets, and smartphones, reporting a 28.3% rise over the corresponding period in 2011.
Lenovo acquired the third position in smart connected device vendors with a 6.5% share, HP stood took fourth with 4.8% of the market share, while Dell captured a 3.2% share.
"After falling well behind Samsung early in 2012, Apple came roaring back in final quarter of the year thanks to its latest hits – the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini – and reduced the market share gap to less than a single percentage point," O’Donnell said.
"The question moving forward will be whether or not Apple can maintain its hit parade against the juggernaut of Samsung."