The tablet segment has seen robust growth in the second quarter and guess what contributed to the success story the most? Well, its Apple of course which led the sales out of all the different tablets on the market. To put it in sheer numbers, a total of about 25 million tablet devices found buyers in the second quarter of 2012, reports IDC which marked an increase of 33.6% increase over the 18.7 million tablet devices sold in Q1 2012. The increase in tablet sales is even more impressive when compared with the corresponding figure for the same period a year ago when 15 million tablet PCs got sold, leading to a growth of 66.67%.
Now coming to Apple’s contribution to the about 25 million tablet PCs sold in Q2 2012, the iPad alone made up for 17 million tablet devices which is clearly more than all other tablet devices available in the market. This again is am impressive improvement over the 11.8 million iPads sold in Q1 2012.
“Apple built upon its strong March iPad launch and ended the quarter with its best-ever shipment total for the iPad, outrunning even the impressive shipment record it set in the fourth quarter of last year,” said Tom Mainelli, research director, Mobile Connected Devices. “The vast majority of consumers continue to favor the iPad over competitors, and Apple is seeing increasingly strong interest in the device from vertical markets—especially education. While iPad shipment totals are beginning to slow a bit in mature markets where the device saw early traction, growth in other regions is clearly more than making up the difference.”
However, while Apple has emerged head and shoulders above all other players in the segment, other too haven’t been left out of the fun entirely. For instance, Samsung too recorded impressive sales with 2.4 million units shipped during the period, which in turn is over hundred percent increase over the 1.1 million units sold a year ago. Amazon too chipped in with shipment of 1.2 million units of the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire was launched towards the end of 2011 and is already due for a replacement soon. However, these were the only players to have breached the million sales figure mark though the other tablet that too has notched up significant sales is the Nexus 7. There are no sales figures available though of the Nexus 7 as the Google tablet went on sale during the Q3 period.
As for the future, IDC expects things to remain competitive in the tablet sphere during the second half of 2012 what with products such as MS Surface or the Kindle Fire 2 all set to be unleashed during this period. A mini iPad too can be ruled out and if it is indeed released, expect it to create the same sort of frenzy as its bigger cousin should have now become used to by now.
“If anything, there’s a real risk that people will have too many options from which to choose this holiday season. Consumers baffled by the differences between Amazon and Google versions of Android, or Windows 8 and Windows RT, may well default to market leader Apple. Or they may simply choose to remain on the sideline for another cycle,” said said Bob O’Donnell, program vice president, Clients and Displays.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
