Strong sales in the US helped boost the global market for tablet computers in the third quarter, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said on Thursday.
IDC said tablet sales rose 11.5 percent year-on-year to 53.8 million units. A majority of that came from the US market, which saw 18.5 percent growth, helped by back-to-school sales.
“Not only is the US market one of the largest for tablets, but third-quarter results also indicate that this is where the growth is,” IDC analyst Jean Philippe Bouchard said.
Bouchard said the US saw growth led by carriers such as Verizon Communications Inc and low-cost devices including the RCA brand, which broke into the top five.
Apple Inc remained the largest single vendor despite a drop in iPad sales from a year ago, shipping 12.3 million units in the third quarter for a 22.8 percent market share, IDC said.
Samsung Electronics Co held its No. 2 position on the market with 9.9 million units shipped, capturing 18.3 percent of the market.
In third place was Taiwan-based Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) at 6.5 percent, followed by China’s Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) at 5.7 percent.
IDC said that Asustek was able to leapfrog its Chinese rival largely on sales of Windows-based 2-in-1 devices, while the company continues to offer some “prominent models at highly competitive prices.”
The Taiwanese firm shipped 3.5 million tablets worldwide in the July-September quarter, but its shipment and market share figures were lower than 3.6 million units and a 7.4 percent share in the same period last year, IDC said.
US-based RCA Corp was a surprise entry into the top-five list with a 4.9 percent market share due to its distribution deal with some of the largest retailers in the world, knocking down Taiwan’s Acer Inc (宏碁) from the fifth place.
With low-cost devices driving volume, RCA’s tablets have been a hit during the back-to-school season in the US and will likely be in high demand during Black Friday (Nov. 28) and the upcoming holiday season, IDC said.
“Although the low-cost vendors are moving a lot of volume, the top vendors, like Apple, continue to rake in the dollars,” IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani said.
“A sub-US$100 tablet simply isn’t sustainable — Apple knows this — and it’s likely the reason they aren’t concerned with market share erosion,” Ubrani said.
The tablet market, which grew at a dizzying pace last year, is now seen as cooling because consumers are keeping their devices longer and turning in some cases to new “ultramobile” PCs.
A Gartner report earlier this month predicted worldwide tablet sales of 229 million for this year, up 11 percent from last year, when the market grew 55 percent.
Additional reporting by CNA
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