Tablet Market is On a 100 Million Units Per Year Pace

Tablet makers shipped an estimated 25 million tablets in the second quarter of this year, up from 18.7 million in the first quarter and up from 15 million in the second quarter of last year. Given the impact of the back-to-school as well as holiday shopping season, there is no reason believe that the industry can't crack 100 million units this year.

Samsung's and Asus' growth rates were greater than that posted by Apple - 117.6 percent and 115.5 percent versus 84.3 percent, respectively - but Apple is growing from a much greater base. Apple added an absolute number of shipments of nearly 7.8 million year over year, while Samsung and Asus gained 1.3 million and 458,000. Following Apple, Samsung's market share increased slightly to 9.6 percent. Amazon has an estimated 5 percent and Asus 3.4 percent. Acer was the only tablet maker to post a shipment and market share decline among the top 5 - and now has about 1.5 percent of the market, IDC estimates.

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Wolfgang Gruener is an experienced professional in digital strategy and content, specializing in web strategy, content architecture, user experience, and applying AI in content operations within the insurtech industry. His previous roles include Director, Digital Strategy and Content Experience at American Eagle, Managing Editor at TG Daily, and contributing to publications like Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware.

11 Comments Comment from the forums

sixdegree

It's over. Netbook is finished.
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marclee37

look at the ipad above, it uses a good looking aspect ratio 1.33 screen. why samsung don't follow the same? but made its tablet with AR1.6+. the new galaxy note is another ugly long device AR1.79. that is exactly an enlarged s3.
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ikyung

marclee37look at the ipad above, it uses a good looking aspect ratio 1.33 screen. why samsung don't follow the same? but made its tablet with AR1.6+. the new galaxy note is another ugly long device AR1.79. that is exactly an enlarged s3.1.33 used to be the video content 4:3 ratio which then transitioned to 16.9 which is 1.79. I don't understand what you are complaining about.
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marclee37

then we should ask why Apple keep producing AR1.33 screen pad. why amazon plan to produce lower AR screen for new generation tablet. reason is simple, no book is that long, our eyes are used to that shorter length. shorter screen looks prettier and natural. do we take portrait picture with with AR1.78? and it would be terrible when you look it back on landscape mode computer wide screen. i use these small screens in portrait mode 99% of my time.
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twelch82

I think it will dry up as quickly as it started. MS at least is trying to engineer their tablets around pen use, although I would argue they could still do much more. That's the only way it makes reasonable sense.
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greghome

9397403 said:
look at the ipad above, it uses a good looking aspect ratio 1.33 screen. why samsung don't follow the same? but made its tablet with AR1.6+. the new galaxy note is another ugly long device AR1.79. that is exactly an enlarged s3.

You're just giving Apple another reason to sue Samsung again....... :/
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everygamer

twelch82I think it will dry up as quickly as it started. MS at least is trying to engineer their tablets around pen use, although I would argue they could still do much more. That's the only way it makes reasonable sense.
What does it matter, neither is really a negative. They both do the same thing. My wifes iPad displays books. My ASUS Transformer Prime displays books. The human eye is not conditioned to look at books in any specific format, we have conditioned it to read left to right, top to bottom. Most books on the market are not a perfect 1.33 ratio so your argument doesn't make any sense.

I think it likely came down to video format, back in 2005-2006 when the ipad was being designed the 4:3 screen shape was still a common format for video. It is in the last few years that it has really finally started to shift to widescreen designs across the board (laptops, TV's, etc). So it was likely timing, and it could have just been that Jobs liked it more square than rectangle for all we know.

At the end of the day, they both get the job done.
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everygamer

Sorry, that response was to the post above it ...

then we should ask why Apple keep producing AR1.33 screen pad. why amazon plan to produce lower AR screen for new generation tablet. reason is simple, no book is that long, our eyes are used to that shorter length. shorter screen looks prettier and natural. do we take portrait picture with with AR1.78? and it would be terrible when you look it back on landscape mode computer wide screen. i use these small screens in portrait mode 99% of my time.
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back_by_demand

marclee37look at the ipad above, it uses a good looking aspect ratio 1.33 screen. why samsung don't follow the same? but made its tablet with AR1.6+. the new galaxy note is another ugly long device AR1.79. that is exactly an enlarged s3.So what you are saying, is that you wanted them to copy Apple?
...
My biggest gripe with Apple devices is the insistance on staying with archaic 4:3 aspect ratio, tablets are content consumption devices and videos just look beter in 16:9, all the those retina displays on Apple just give you high resolution black bars
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rantoc

Funny, i never see anyone use a pad in Sweden. Peeps prefer their laptops/ultra books with real keyboards or the smartphones for quick surfs. There haven't really been any real need, more like a "pushed" need from the marketing firms.
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