While global PC shipments remain lukewarm at best, according to research firm IDC, global tablet shipments remain buoyant.
According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, the worldwide tablet market grew by 11 per cent in the second quarter of 2014 compared to the same period a year ago, reaching 49.3 million units. On the year, IDC is forecasting positive growth, although slower growth than the tablet market achieved in 2013.
“As we indicated last quarter, the market is still being impacted by the rise of large-screen smartphones and longer than anticipated ownership cycles,” said Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC research director for tablets, in a statement. “We can also attribute the market deceleration to slow commercial adoption of tablets. Despite this trend, we believe that stronger commercial demand for tablets in the second half of 2014 will help the market grow and that we will see more enterprise-specific offerings, as illustrated by the Apple and IBM partnership, come to market.”
When examined by vendor, Apple continued to lead the way in Q2 by shipping 13.3 million units, good for 26.9 per cent of the market. Samsung was next with 17.2 per cent, followed by Lenovo. Asus and Acer. While Lenovo shipped just 2.4 million nits, it passed Asus and grew by an impressive 64.7 per cent, year over year.
The “other” vendor category was just behind Apple with 21.9 per cent of the market, with IDC noting most traditional PC and phone vendors have now entered the space and are gaining momentum with bundling strategies.
“Until recently, Apple, and to a lesser extent Samsung, have been sitting at the top of the market, minimally impacted by the progress from competitors,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, in a statement. “Now we are seeing growth amongst the smaller vendors and a levelling of shares across more vendors as the market enters a new phase.”