iPad's Share of Tablet Shipments Falls to 50% in 3Q 2012

[MacRumors]

Research firm IDC today released its preliminary estimates of worldwide tablet shipments for the third quarter of 2012, finding that several Android tablet manufacturers saw very strong growth as Apple stagnated during the lead-up to the iPad mini launch. As a result, Apple's share of the market fell to 50.4% from 59.7% in the year-ago quarter and 68.2% in the second quarter of this year.

"After a very strong second quarter, Apple saw growth slow as both consumer and commercial (including education) shipments declined, and rumors of a forthcoming iPad mini began to heat up," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets at IDC. "We believe a sizeable percentage of consumers interested in buying an Apple tablet sat out the third quarter in anticipation of an announcement about the new iPad mini. Now that the new mini, and a fourth-generation full-sized iPad, are both shipping we expect Apple to have a very good quarter. However, we believe the mini's relatively high $329 starting price leaves plenty of room for Android vendors to build upon the success they achieved in the third quarter."

Second-place Samsung saw its shipments more than quadruple year-over-year and more than double from just the previous quarter. Amazon has also experienced strong growth with the Kindle Fire and its successors, moving rapidly to secure nearly 10% of the market.

Historically, tablet shipment numbers have been viewed as flawed as each new iPad competitor flooded the market with shipments only to see the devices languish on store shelves. But with Samsung, Amazon and others now beginning to establish some track records and momentum in the tablet market, these shipment numbers are likely to be increasingly reflective of customer preference.

Article Link: iPad's Share of Tablet Shipments Falls to 50% in 3Q 2012

[maccompatible]

325% is not quadrupling..

--------------------------------

Oh. My bad. It's a GROWTH of 325 percent. Not "Share is 325 percent of what it was last year."

[Virtualball]

This is obviously related to the iPad Mini. Apple sold 3 million in this last weekend; let's see their share for this quarter before making any judgements.

[nickn]

Samsung had 325% growth in a single year, but yet according to Apple, Samsung tablets are not cool. Ok then...

[Leonard1818]

Oh nooooooo!

[Funkymonk]

Where are these other tablets? Literally every single tablet I've seen in public have been iPads. I have not seen a single Samsung, kindle fire, or other tablet in the subways or at school. Do these people shamefully use their non iPad tablets at home or something?


Just kidding, but seriously though, where are these tablets being sold?

[teknikal90]

Originally Posted by maccompatible

325% is not quadrupling..

yes it is..

4 is a quadruple of 1:

1 x 4 = 4

Yet if 1 grew to 4 (quadrupled), the growth rate is:
(4-1)/1=300%

[DTphonehome]

It was inevitable that the iPad would see some of its market to competitors over time. However, I don't really think that these shipment numbers are indicative of consumer choice. These are simply tablets that are shipped to retailers, and from the last couple of years of data, it is clear that many of these tablets and up going back to the manufacturer unsold. Apple alluded to this in the iPad Mini intro, when they said that 91% of web data from tablets comes from iPads. So what are all those other tablets doing?

[jabingla2810]

Wonder how many of those are the £60 android tablets they sell in ASDA?

[WannaGoMac]

No surprise. iOS has become stagnant, lacks polish on it's big new features which was it's selling point (Siri is HORRIBLE compared to Google Voice Search -- http://updates.gizmodo.com/post/3465...-whos-the-best ), and the whole Maps debacle. Let's hope with the leadership change they start doing polished innovation again... cause I am starting down the exit road to Nexus land at this point.

[sir1963nz]

Originally Posted by nickn

Samsung had 325% growth in a single year, but yet according to Apple, Samsung tablets are not cool. Ok then...

well if we remove all the tablets shipped back to samsung (which I am sure they count those too) because people thought they were buying an iPad then their growth was probably only doubly digits

[nuckinfutz]

Originally Posted by DTphonehome

It was inevitable that the iPad would see some of its market to competitors over time. However, I don't really think that these shipment numbers are indicative of consumer choice. These are simply tablets that are shipped to retailers, and from the last couple of years of data, it is clear that many of these tablets and up going back to the manufacturer unsold. Apple alluded to this in the iPad Mini intro, when they said that 91% of web data from tablets comes from iPads. So what are all those other tablets doing?

None of the competitors are talking about actual sales to consumers. In this case we are talking about tablets sitting on pallets in some warehouse.

Plus the whole run up to the iPad even stalled sales as people waited to see what was coming. A lot of this stuff is common sense and causality but it doesn't take a mensa membership to run a blog. Insightful coverage will be overlooked by most sites.

[aristotle]

I have yet to see numerous Android tablets in the wild. I have seen a few but not many. I sort of doubt that the shipment numbers will translate directly into sales for Samsung.

[phpmaven]

Obviously, Samsung and the rest are gaining momentum, but I'm not buying the 50% market share number. Just going by my observations of tablets I see in the wild and the many friends who own tablets (I know dozens of people with tablets) it has to be way higher than that. I only see the occasional non-iPad and among my friends there are a couple that have non-iPads.

I would be willing to bet if you lined up 100 tablet owners that 75% or more would be rockin' iPads.

[MacFather]

Nexus 7/10, Surface, Fire HD... Competition is stronger than ever.

[MacsRgr8]

I think we should all wait till after Christmas to find out how the sales went.

Q1 of 2013 (i.e. Apple's Q1 = 4th "real" quarter of 2012) will be all revealing.

[kavika411]

Makes sense now as to why, at the conclusion of a rough 3rd quarter (at least in terms of lost tablet market share), Apple decided to roll out iPad 4. They knew of the 3rd quarter numbers real time, and saw they needed to push out iPad 4 to (hopefully) stimulate their tablet sales.

[spiderman0616]

Originally Posted by DTphonehome

It was inevitable that the iPad would see some of its market to competitors over time. However, I don't really think that these shipment numbers are indicative of consumer choice. These are simply tablets that are shipped to retailers, and from the last couple of years of data, it is clear that many of these tablets and up going back to the manufacturer unsold. Apple alluded to this in the iPad Mini intro, when they said that 91% of web data from tablets comes from iPads. So what are all those other tablets doing?

Anecdotal evidence is basically useless, especially if you're arguing on a forum, but seriously---I have trouble believing these reports that are based on shipped tablets. The media SO wants this to be the case because it makes good news fodder, but I have to look at my train ride to and from Chicago every day. My train is, quite literally, a mixture of all types of different users. For full sized tablets, all I really every see is iPads. I've seen a Motorola Xoom here and there. I think I've seen one Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the wild. The smaller ones? I still haven't seen a Nexus 7 in public, and I've probably only seen a handful of Kindle Fires. The color screen "tablet" I see the most is, oddly enough, the Nook. Everything else seems to be an e-ink only e-reader.

I think that if you're going to release ridiculous numbers like this, you should also talk about sell through. Numbers shipped does not always mean numbers sold--that relies heavily on what company shipped them.

[nick_elt]

Wow. Haven't been surprised by Samsungs growth in the smartphone market. But that's amazing considering the nexus 10 hasn't started shipping.

[kas23]

We sort of knew this was going to happen eventually. Even Apple apparently knew too, hence the early release of the iPad 4. If they had waited until next year this time (basically what they did from iPhone 4 to 4S), Android would have been peering at them in the mirror. It's not 2010 anymore. Apple has serious competition.

[Bytor65]

Based on what? I don't see anyone buying Samsung tablets, I don't know anyone who owns a Samsung tablet, I don't see news stories about Samsung tablets that are popular.

Here is what I see selling and what people I know have:

Kindle Fire/Nexus 7/RIM Playbooks...

[nuckinfutz]

There's no way for one company to dominate everything.

I don't want the iPhone to be the only phone.

I don't want the iPad to be the only tablet

Bring on the competition. Cage Match time.

[Lesser Evets]

Most buyers will ultimately go for cheaper over ease of use or software benefits, etc. Apple is destined to always be less than monopolistic in any market due to price. However, Apple grew with the market as did most aside from "other".

I agree with an above poster that said you can see 3:1 iPads over other tablets in the wild or in the hands of people you know. There is a possibility that Samsung made and marketed 325% more tablets, but they aren't be used or sold in the numbers reflecting this chart.

[nick_elt]

Originally Posted by phpmaven

Obviously, Samsung and the rest are gaining momentum, but I'm not buying the 50% market share number. Just going by my observations of tablets I see in the wild and the many friends who own tablets (I know dozens of people with tablets) it has to be way higher than that. I only see the occasional non-iPad and among my friends there are a couple that have non-iPads.

I would be willing to bet if you lined up 100 tablet owners that 75% or more would be rockin' iPads.

Yes. But up until recently there hasn't been much Competition.

[gatearray]

Originally Posted by nickn

Samsung had 325% growth in a single year, but yet according to Apple, Samsung tablets are not cool. Ok then...

Actually, Apple was just repeating what a judge in the UK had said.

Also, Samsung and all of these other competitors don't release sales numbers, so IDC is just guessing as usual, nothing to see here.