No. 2 Samsung finished the quarter with 10.7 million shipments and a 22.2 percent share. The South Korean electronics giant boosted tablet shipments during the past twelve months, increasing its share position by 8.1 percent. Meanwhile, Apple's share declined 12.7 percent during the same time period.
Apple recently passed the 170 million mark in terms of cumulative units sold since the launch of its first iPad, passing the 8.8 million units of other types of tablets shipped before Apple entered the market in the second quarter of 2010. Samsung, its closest competitor, has shipped 54 million units since it arrived in the tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Asus in Taiwan, which recently launched the new version of its Nexus 7 tablet, had substantially stronger quarter-on-quarter growth than either Apple or Samsung at an 87 percent expansion. Lenovo's strong regional presence in China played a large role in its 94.6 percent quarter-over-quarter growth, but equally important is its strength in Europe and in emerging markets such as Latin America.
While vendors such as Samsung, Asus and Lenovo have been part of the growth of the Android operating system in the tablet market, much of the growth is attributable to regional vendors based in China. With the new Windows-based tablets entering the market at prices less than the base unit of the newly configured iPad mini with Retina display, Apple is positioned to lead the market in the coming years, according to IHS.
