IDC: iPad leads record worldwide tablet shipments but loses marketshare in Q4 2012

According to new data from research firm IDC, Apple's iPad led worldwide tablet shipments hit 51.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, but dipped in overall marketshare amid booming sales from rival Samsung.

For the December quarter, Apple's iPad shipments grew 48.1 percent year-over year to 22.9 million units, while shipments from Samsung skyrocketed 263 percent to reach 7.9 million units over the same period. It should be noted that Samsung's numbers include combined sales of the company's Android and Windows 8 products, and Apple's shipments included all iPad models.

The preliminary data comes from IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, which noted the 51.5 million overall tablet shipments represented a 75.3 percent year-to-year increase, up from 29.9 million units during the same time last year. Thought to have driven the huge growth were lower average selling prices for new devices and increased consumer spending during the holidays.

The numbers are in line with Apple's statement of 22.9 million iPad sales over the three month period, announced during the company's quarterly conference call for the first fiscal quarter of 2013.

"New product launches from the category's top vendors, as well as new entrant Microsoft, led to a surge in consumer interest and very robust shipments totals during the holiday season," said IDC Research Director of Tablets, Tom Mainelli. "The record-breaking quarter stands in stark contrast to the PC market, which saw shipments decline during the quarter for the first time in more than five years."

Chart: Top Five Worldwide Tablet Vendors, 2012Q4 Five Quarter Market Share Change (Units)Description: Worldwide Quarterly Tablet TrackerIDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tracker provides total market size and vendor share for both the Tablet and eReader markets in 46 countries. Detailed segmentation is provided by CPU, operating system, connectivity type, screen size and resolution, storage, distribution channel, and customer segment. Measurement for this tracker is in units, value, and end-user price. For more information, or to subscribe to the research, please contact Kathy Nagamine at 1-650-350-6423 or knagamine@idc.com. Further detail about this tracker can be found at:http://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=81Tags: Samsung, Apple, Amazon, Asus, Barnes Noble Tablet, IDC, tracker, Q4 2012, 4Q 2012, market share, galaxy, iPad, Kindle, Transformer, Nook, 2012Q4Author: IDCcharts powered by iCharts

While Apple dropped in marketshare for the second consecutive quarter, the iPad and iPad mini still account for the majority of overall tablet shipments with a 43.6 percent share. Samsung came in second with 15.1 percent, while Amazon's Kindle range accounted for 11.5 percent of the market. Trailing the top three was Asus, which saw a massive 402.5 percent boost year-to-year on shipments of 3.1 million units, but dropped from 7.8 percent to 5.8 percent in quarterly marketshare.

As for Microsoft's Surface, the tablet failed to break into the top five with just under 900,000 units shipped after launching at the end of October. IDC program director for Mobile Device Trackers Ryan Reith believes the Redmond software giant is serious about competing in the tablet hardware space, but questions the company's market strategy.

"We believe that Microsoft and its partners need to quickly adjust to the market realities of smaller screens and lower prices," he said. "In the long run, consumers may grow to believe that high-end computing tablets with desktop operating systems are worth a higher premium than other tablets, but until then ASPs on Windows 8 and Windows RT devices need to come down to drive higher volumes."

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55 Comments

irnchriz 17 Years · 1595 comments

About 11 years ago

Take IDCs report with one gigantic pinch of salt considering neither Samsung or Amazon publish sales figures. Looking back at the recent court case between Apple and Samsung, figures released by Samsung were far far lower than any of these companies had estimated/guessed. This alone is enough to cast doubt on their report.

suddenly newton 14 Years · 13819 comments

You mean the tablet Samsung's lawyers couldn't tell apart from iPads in court?

saarek 16 Years · 1586 comments

Guess this is the old shipped vs sold chestnut. Every iPad shipped is essentially sold, you can't say the same for everyone else. I'm assuming the return rate is still very high for everyone else too?

gtr 13 Years · 3231 comments

In both the tablet and the smartphone categories there are additional yet-to-be-introduced factors to be added to this equation.

1. Wait until Samsung's customers discover the rarity of software updates.

2. Wait until they start to experience hardware technical issues.

3. Wait until they get to experience Samsung's customer service dealing with those issues.

Wait until they begin to realise that Samsung is in this for the quick buck, not the long haul, with their devices, and that their true motto is:

YOU WANT IMPROVEMENTS?

BUY 'EM.

Then watch for the swing to alternatives.

slurpy 15 Years · 5390 comments

This 'marketshare' stat is so fucking asinine in this situation.

Let's say I sell 100 widgets in year one while my competitors sell 1.

I sell 1000 widgets in year 2 while my competitors sell 11

OH NOES MY MARKETSHARE WENT DOWN

The iPad is following the exact same pattern as the iPod, whose marketshare almost decreased once an explosion of similar mp3 players were spammed to market by competitors. The iPod stayed the course, and eventually marketshare went back up as people realized most of these other products were shit, and Apple kept improving their product. Apple is in this for the long haul and they see the big picture. Marketshare will fluctuate, especially considering how a tablet is defined with the introduction of the surface, but Apple is still in the best possible position in this market to leverage their product.