A report from research firm ABI Research indicates a new record for global media tablets was set in the second quarter of 2012, with shipments reaching nearly 25 million. That was good enough for growth of 76 per cent year over year and 36 per cent quarter over quarter.
Apple dominates the tablet market, accounting for nearly 69 per cent of tablets shipped in the quarter. ABI reported marketshare gains for Samsung and Asus at 8.1 per cent and 4.0 per cent of shipments respectively, while at one per cent of the market RIM’s PlayBook lost ground. Dell and LG exited the market as the retrench for future offerings.
Based on current shipments, ABI said it expects worldwide shipments of media tablets to exceed 100 million units in 2012.
Looking closer at Apple, ABI noted that the 17 million tablets it shipped in Q2 nearly matched the 17.3 million tablets shipped by all vendors in all of 2010. One million of the iPads in Q2 shipped to US education customers, which buoyed the shipment growth but hurt the average selling price, as Apple sells into this segment at a discount.
Samsung was second behind Apple in the quarter, followed by Amazon and Asus. New vendors and products are entering the fray during the second half of the year, including tablets from Google and Microsoft.