IDC: Top 5 Tablet Vendors In Q2

Tablet Market Grows While Also Declining

Despite the tablet market declining for the second consecutive quarter, it actually grew from last year, according to the International Data Corp. (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker.

Tablet sales saw an 11 percent year-over-year growth in the second quarter, with 49.3 million units sold, compared to 44.4 million last year. The market saw a slight decline after selling 50.4 million units in the first quarter, a dropoff of 1.5 percent.

The growth from last year is thanks in large part to smaller vendors joining the tablet market, IDC said.

IDC believes we'll see a "positive but slower growth" in the market this year compared to last, citing "stronger commercial demand," and the Apple-IBM partnership leading to "enterprise-specific offerings."

5. Acer Group

The Taiwanese company saw a 36.3 percent decline in its market share from last year, selling 1 million units.

Acer had a 2 percent market share in the second quarter of this year compared to 3.4 percent last year.

Acer announced three tablets in its Iconia line during the second quarter, two of which were 7-inch models.

IDC said a rise in demand for large-screen smartphones has hurt the small-screen tablet market, in addition to tablets having "longer than anticipated ownership cycles." It appears Acer may have been hurt by both, along with an increase in competition as more small vendors have entered the tablet market.

4. Asus

Asus saw a year-over-year growth of 13.1 percent, selling 2.3 million tablets in the second quarter.

The Taiwanese company had a market share of 4.6 percent in the second quarter, but fell to fourth in market share, after being passed by Lenovo. Asus was third in the first quarter, selling 2.6 million tablets and had a 5 percent market share.

Asus may have fallen victim to the slightly shrinking tablet market from quarter one, and also may have lost market share to Lenovo as well as smaller vendors that have recently entered the tablet game.

3. Lenovo

As mentioned in the previous slide, Lenovo moved into third place in market share after being fourth the previous quarter, and rocketed up in market share with a 64.7 percent year-over-year growth.

By selling 2.4 million tablets in the second quarter, the Chinese company has a 4.9 percent market share, after having 4.1 percent in the first quarter and 3.3 percent last year.

Lenovo is a vendor of both Windows and Android tablets, and its growth is thanks in large part to international developing markets, including China and India.

It also has a growing presence in the United States, and that should slowly continue this year during back-to-school season and the holiday quarter.

2. Samsung

Despite being the worldwide leader in mobile phone sales, Samsung has never been able to claim that title with tablets.

The Korean conglomerate sold 8.5 million tablets in the second quarter for a market share of 17.2 percent and a slight year-over-year growth of 1.6 percent.

Samsung, like the tablet market as a whole, saw fewer tablet sales in the second quarter, after selling 11.2 million three months earlier for a market share of 22.3 percent.

In its earnings estimate, the company pointed to the rise in demand for large-screen smartphones as to the reason for the decline in its own tablet shipments.

1. Apple

After selling 13.3 million iPads in the second quarter, a year-over-year decline of 9.3 percent, Apple is still the top tablet vendor in the market.

Apple's market share fell to 26.9 percent in the second quarter, after holding a commanding 32.5 percent of the market three months earlier, when it sold 16.4 million iPads. Apple sold 14.6 million tablets last year, and had a market share of 33 percent.

This was the second straight quarter of declining sales for iPads, which was a topic that received a lot of attention during the company's earnings call on Tuesday.

IDC agreed with Apple CEO Tim Cook that the company's recently announced partnership with IBM will lead to higher iPad sales by growing its demand in the enterprise.