Some may still say that the iPad "dominates" the tablet market, but we can't agree with that statement anymore. Apple has lost quite a bit of its tablet market share over the past couple of quarters, and Android (both Google Android and non-Google Android (NGA)) are making moves. IDC released new numbers for Q4 2012, and despite the iPad mini, Apple lost more ground, and Amazon picked up the slack.
According to the IDC, the overall tablet market saw big growth for the holiday quarter, up 75.3% year-on-year and 74.3% from Q3. Year-on-year, the big growth went to the official Google Android tablets as Samsung saw year-on-year shipment growth of 263% and Asus grew 402.5% year-on-year. Unfortunately, Asus also saw a decline in share from Q3 to Q4, dropping from 7.8% to 5.8%. It seems that even the holiday season and its Nexus 7 could help that.
On the NGA hand, Amazon increased its share to 11.5%, up from 8.3 percent in Q3, by shipping 6+ million tablets during Q4, and Barnes & Noble had a respectable quarter, shipping almost 1 million units, and increasing its share from 0.7% to 1.9%.
But, even with all of that movement, Apple still retained the top spot by shipping 22.9 million units, which represented a 48% year-on-year shipment growth. Still, Apple's share did drop to 43.6%, which is down from 46.4% in Q3 2012, and 51.7% in Q4 2011.
IDC did note that Microsoft just missed the top 5 by shipping just under 900,000 Surface tablets. If sales of the tablet are close to shipments, that puts Surface sales much higher than some estimates. And, given that the Surface wasn't on the market for the entire quarter, that's not too bad a showing.
Some interesting numbers from IDC, but we'd really like to see the platform breakdown along with the manufacturer numbers. It looks like Android as a whole could be close to iOS in total market share even without counting NGA devices, and Android would likely be well over iOS if you do count NGAs from Amazon and B&N.
Michael Heller is known for his clear and informative articles on mobile technology. He explores important topics such as the rollouts of 5G networks and the advancements in mobile payments, offering readers insights into the evolving tech landscape.
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