Tablet market growth to stay in the black: IDC

The worldwide tablet market grew 11% year over year in the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14) with shipments reaching 49.3 million units according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. Although shipments declined sequentially from 1Q14 by -1.5%, IDC believes the market will experience positive but slower growth in 2014 compared to the previous year.

"As we indicated last quarter, the market is still being impacted by the rise of large-screen smartphones and longer than anticipated ownership cycles," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC Research Director for Tablets. "We can also attribute the market deceleration to slow commercial adoption of tablets. Despite this trend, we believe that stronger commercial demand for tablets in the second half of 2014 will help the market grow and that we will see more enterprise-specific offerings, as illustrated by the Apple and IBM partnership, come to market."

Despite declining shipments of its iPad product line, Apple managed to maintain its lead in the worldwide tablet market, shipping 13.3 million units in the second quarter. Following a strong first quarter, Samsung struggled to maintain its momentum and saw its market share slip to 17.2% in the second quarter. Lenovo continued to climb the rankings ladder, surpassing ASUS and moving into the third spot in the tablet market, shipping 2.4 million units and grabbing 4.9% markets share. 

The top five was rounded out by ASUS and Acer, with 4.6% and 2.0% share, respectively. Share outside the top five grew to an all time high as more and more vendors have made inroads in the tablet space. By now most traditional PC and phone vendors have at least one tablet model in the market, and strategies to move bundled devices and promotional offerings have slowly gained momentum.

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"Until recently, Apple, and to a lesser extent Samsung, have been sitting at the top of the market, minimally impacted by the progress from competitors," said Jitesh Ubrani, Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. "Now we are seeing growth amongst the smaller vendors and a levelling of shares across more vendors as the market enters a new phase."

Top Five Tablet Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Second Quarter 2014 (Preliminary Results, Shipments in millions) 

Vendor	2Q14 Unit Shipments	2Q14 Market Share	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	Year-over-Year Growth
1. Apple	13.3	26.9%	14.6	33.0%	-9.3%
2. Samsung	8.5	17.2%	8.4	18.8%	1.6%
3. Lenovo	2.4	4.9%	1.5	3.3%	64.7%
4. ASUS	2.3	4.6%	2.0	4.5%	13.1%
5. Acer Group	1.0	2.0%	1.5	3.4%	-36.3%
Others	21.9	44.4%	16.4	37.0%	33.4%
Total	49.3	100.0%	44.4	100.0%	11.0%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, July 24, 2014

*Total tablet market includes slate tablets plus 2-in-1 tablets. References to "tablets" include both slate tablets and 2-in-1 devices.