A recent study into global tablet sales numbers for 2014 second quarter has crowned Apple with world’s leading tablet vendor title.
According to a research conducted by IDC, released Thursday, total tablet shipments during the second quarter dropped by 1.5 percent from the first quarter.
Global tablet shipments accounted to 49.3 million units in the second quarter, up 11 percent compared to the same quarter the previous year. However, IDC believes the tablet market will register an overall positive growth in 2014 compared to 2013, but at a comparatively slower pace.
The research found that during the last quarter ending June, Apple maintained its tablet market lead despite of a decrease in market share. Its total shipments for the quarter were recorded to be 13.3 million units as compared to 14.6 million units shipped during the same period last year.
Apple’s market share went down by almost 9 percent to 26.9 percent as compared to 2013’s 33 percent.
Second in the list was Samsung with 8.5 million tablet shipments during the second quarter. The South Korean electronics giant’s market share slipped 1.6 percent to 17.2 percent from 18.8 percent recorded a year ago.
Lenovo, with 2.4 million unit shipments and 4.9 percent market share, reported the best year-over-year sales growth of 64.7 percent during the quarter as compared to Q2 2013. Taiwan-based Asus stood fourth in the list with 2.3 million units shipped and a 4.5 per cent share. Acer held the fifth spot with 1 million shipments recorded during the quarter and a 2 per cent market share.
IDC’s Jean Philippe Bouchard commenting on the report said the tablet market has been hit by a rise in use of large-screen smart phones and longer than anticipated ownership cycles. Bouchard also attributed the market’s disappointing growth to slow commercial adoption of tablets.
