New figures from IDC show that Apple’s share of the tablet market dropped in the third-quarter of 2012, but they still hold a dominant 50.4% share of the market. The tablet market showed an overall 6.7% growth over the previous quarter.
“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.”
Tablets such as Google’s Nexus 7 helped to kickstart interest in Android tablets, however the largest Android tablet maker was Samsung, which shipped 5.1 million tablets vs. Apple’s 14 million unit sales of its full-sized iPad models.
The third largest seller of tablets is Amazon, despite only selling them in the US market. Its Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD models sold a combined 2.5 million units, for a 9% share of the market. The top five sellers list was rounded out by Asus with 2.4 million, and Lonovo with just 400,000 units shipped.
Apple may face challenges in holding its dominant market share in the long run, as the arrival of Windows 8/RT tablets poses new competition. However, the iPad mini is expected to give Apple a short-term boost in sales.
