Apple's Share of Worldwide Tablet Shipments Falls Below 40% in 1Q 2013

MacRumors · May 1, 2013

Research firm IDC today announced its preliminary estimates of worldwide tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2013, finding that Apple's share of the market continues to slide as competitors begin to gain footholds in the market, although the firm notes that Apple did exceed expectations. Apple held a 39.6% share of the market for quarter, compared to 43.6% in the previous quarter and a 58.2% share in the year-ago quarter.

Worldwide Tablet Shipments in 1Q13 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)

Apple outperformed IDC's most recent projections for the quarter, shipping 19.5 million units compared to a forecast of 18.7 million units. The company, which historically has experienced a steep drop off in first quarter shipments (following strong holiday sales in the fourth quarter), saw some smoothing of that seasonality this year. [...]

"Sustained demand for the iPad mini and increasingly strong commercial shipments led to a better-than expected first quarter for Apple," said Tom Mainelli, Research Director, Tablets at IDC. "In addition, by moving the iPad launch to the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple seems to have avoided the typical first-quarter slowdown that traditionally occurred when consumers held off buying in January and February in anticipation of a new product launch in March."

Samsung and Asus in particular saw strong performances during the quarter, with each seeing year-over-year shipment increases in excess of 250% compared to Apple's 65% growth. Still, Apple's share of the market is more than double that of second-place Samsung. In looking at operating systems, Android now outships iOS, with Android taking 56.5% of the market and iOS taking just under 40%.

It is important to note that IDC's numbers track shipments instead of sales, and thus how many shipped devices are making their way into consumers' hands remains unclear. IDC's figures are also estimates, as a number of companies do not release their exact shipment data and thus research firms must rely on supply chain data and calculations from information that is made public by manufacturers to build their estimates.

Article Link: Apple's Share of Worldwide Tablet Shipments Falls Below 40% in 1Q 2013

Zwhaler · May 1, 2013

Apple has always been ahead of the game with tablets, with the iPad 5 and iPad mini retina I expect them to have a record holiday season for sales this year.

grassfeeder · May 1, 2013

there is a reason why we see others tablets being blown out on discount sites - they sit on shelves and collect dust. you don't see that with iPads....not at the same levels. shipment numbers don't matter - units in hands do...

Popeye206 · May 1, 2013

I wish they would show actual sales... shipments mean nothing... everyone can ship as many as they like... are people buying is the question?

MRU · May 1, 2013

How long before someone posts about Apple being 'doomed' ? All bets taken

riss · May 1, 2013

comparing apples with rotten pears

shipments... who cares about shipments when Apple sells every iPad they make and Android flaps are still sitting on shelfs in stores

Ryth · May 1, 2013

Popeye206 said:
I wish they would show actual sales... shipments mean nothing... everyone can ship as many as they like... are people buying is the question?

Yep and I wish sites like MR and others would stop giving any air time to research companies that do this.

Shipped means absolutely nothing....absolutely worthless data point.

On top of that, their definition of tablet includes things that can't even do what an iPad can do. A Nook reader or Kindle reader is considered a tablet.

JayCee842 · May 1, 2013

They still beat expectations though!

Earendil · May 1, 2013

MacRumors said:
It is important to note that IDC's numbers track shipments instead of sales, and thus how many shipped devices are making their way into consumers' hands remains unclear. IDC's figures are also estimates, as a number of companies do not release their exact shipment data and thus research firms must rely on supply chain data and calculations from information that is made public by manufacturers to build their estimates.

In other words, a giant grain of salt should be included in all discussion.
I'm also curious who/what makes up the 31.5% of the "Other" tablets? Is this a result of IDC contacting a manufacturer and not knowing where the estimated components are going?
For there to be 31.5%, and yet be smaller than microsofts 1.8% would take an even distribution to 18 other companies. I know Asia has a few knock off companies, but really?

spyguy10709 · May 1, 2013

Something to remember

Shipped units =/= sales.

I've yet to see a Samsung tablet out in the wild, but everywhere I go - I see iPads.

(Or maybe I can't tell if they're Samsung's or not! lol

)

JayCee842 · May 1, 2013

Popeye206 said:
I wish they would show actual sales... shipments mean nothing... everyone can ship as many as they like... are people buying is the question?

I agree. Shipments don't mean a thing. The sales is where its at.

thundersteele · May 1, 2013

grassfeeder said:
there is a reason why we see others tablets being blown out on discount sites - they sit on shelves and collect dust. you don't see that with iPads....not at the same levels. shipment numbers don't matter - units in hands do...

Popeye206 said:
I wish they would show actual sales... shipments mean nothing... everyone can ship as many as they like... are people buying is the question?

This is getting old. The first generation of Android tablets were overpriced and unfinished. Shipping sizes were a few 100k, not millions, and many of those were indeed sold with large discounts.

However today Android tablets are competitive in price and offer a decent software package (whether it is as good as iOS is debatable). There are NOT 8 million Samsung tablets sitting on the shelves, nor Kindle Fire's or Nexus 7 (the Asus number). Margins are certainly lower than for iPads, but Android tablets are in business now.

Welcome to reality!

spyguy10709 · May 1, 2013

MacRumorUser said:
How long before someone posts about Apple being 'doomed' ? All bets taken

Apple is DOOMED. They're still growing by huge amounts... but they're doomed!

----------

thundersteele said:
This is getting old. The first generation of Android tablets were overpriced and unfinished. Shipping sizes were a few 100k, not millions, and many of those were indeed sold with large discounts.

However today Android tablets are competitive in price and offer a decent software package (whether it is as good as iOS is debatable). There are NOT 8 million Samsung tablets sitting on the shelves, nor Kindle Fire's or Nexus 7 (the Asus number). Margins are certainly lower than for iPads, but Android tablets are in business now.

Welcome to reality!

Actually... they are...

Follow daily steals or any liquidation site - every time there's a tablet deal - it's android tablets - at HUGE discounts.

Johnny Vegas · May 1, 2013

Shipments aside, Apple's iPad is still the thing to have. There will always be people that settle for an Android based tablet to save some money, but most still prefer iOS. Until that changes, Apple doesn't have to worry.

Krazy Bill · May 1, 2013

MacRumorUser said:
How long before someone posts about Apple being 'doomed' ? All bets taken

How long before another Apple apologist disregards the facts?

This is truly good news for us Apple consumers. It says, "Get off your arses and innovate".

Renzatic · May 1, 2013

Shipped units aren't the whole story, but it is still an indicator of popularity. A company can't just ship out 50,000,000 units and claim they've made the best selling product ever, because after awhile, it'd end up costing them far more than they're making, and stores would quit accepting them.

Shipped units doesn't give you the exact number of how many people are using your product, but if you're shipping more month after month, you're likely selling more.

skaertus · May 1, 2013

As the market expands, Apple's market share will fall. There are strong competitors such as Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon, Asus and so on. iOS, being a closed ecosystem, will not be able to compete in terms of market share, with Android and Windows tablets. It will still fare better than OS X, though, due to the head start.

However, the numbers show a terrific result for Apple. Apple's sales are better than expected, and the number of tablets sold nearly doubled within one year. For Apple to keep its market share, it would have to sell 2.5x more than it sold last year, and this is a pace that's just impossible to be kept. Apple's market share will probably sunk deeper in the next years, but the results may still be great.

WildCowboy · May 1, 2013

Ryth said:
Yep and I wish sites like MR and others would stop giving any air time to research companies that do this.

Shipped means absolutely nothing....absolutely worthless data point.

On top of that, their definition of tablet includes things that can't even do what an iPad can do. A Nook reader or Kindle reader is considered a tablet.

Yes, it's important to understand what they're estimating, but even Apple routinely cites IDC and Gartner, so they don't think the research firms are completely worthless.

Simmias · May 1, 2013

Popeye206 said:
I wish they would show actual sales... shipments mean nothing... everyone can ship as many as they like... are people buying is the question?

This. I trust the IDC reports about as far as I can throw a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.

I see Samsung phones all over the place. I have not seen a single person use or talk about Samsung tablets.

aerok · May 1, 2013

So shipped numbers should not matter if it does not look for Apple? How typical...

Oletros · May 1, 2013

Renzatic said:
Shipped units aren't the whole story, but it is still an indicator of popularity. A company can't just ship out 50,000,000 units and claim they've made the best selling product ever, because after awhile, it'd end up costing them far more than they're making, and stores would quit accepting them.

Shipped units doesn't give you the exact number of how many people are using your product, but if you're shipping more month after month, you're likely selling more.

Or you're building more and more warehouses to bury those gazillions of unsold tablets and smartphones

Northgrove · May 1, 2013

Hmm, I thought Apple would be dominating especially the tablet space. Tells a bit about how much I know...

MRU · May 1, 2013

Krazy Bill said:
How long before another Apple apologist disregards the facts?

Are you calling me an Apple apologist or talking in general ? because I'm certainly not an apple apologist ...

I have a lot of issues with Apple lately in regards to lack innovation and actual MACINTOSH software which seems to have been forgotten about in amongst the wave of iOS device launches the last few years.

BC2009 · May 1, 2013

Popeye206 said:
I wish they would show actual sales... shipments mean nothing... everyone can ship as many as they like... are people buying is the question?

Even if Samsung and others actually reported shipments (which they don't). This seems like more IDC exaggeration of Samsung. They consistently give the highest estimates to Samsung of all the analysts. I've learned to tune out IDC's reports. I applaud MacRumors for calling out the fact that these are estimates and even still are only estimates of shipments.

Plutonius · May 1, 2013

thundersteele said:
This is getting old. The first generation of Android tablets were overpriced and unfinished. Shipping sizes were a few 100k, not millions, and many of those were indeed sold with large discounts.

However today Android tablets are competitive in price and offer a decent software package (whether it is as good as iOS is debatable). There are NOT 8 million Samsung tablets sitting on the shelves, nor Kindle Fire's or Nexus 7 (the Asus number). Margins are certainly lower than for iPads, but Android tablets are in business now.

Welcome to reality!

I'm curious then. Why doesn't the Android equipment makers give out their "sold" numbers instead of "shipped" numbers (especially Samsung) ?

Apple's Share of Worldwide Tablet Shipments Falls Below 40% in 1Q 2013

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