Apple’s Q4 2012 Shipments: Tablets Up 8M Units, Market Share Decreasing, According To IDC

IDC has just released some preliminary data regarding Apple’s tablet shipments for Q4 2012, and according to these market share numbers, Apple has increased its tablet shipments compared to Q4 2011, but has also battled with market share, losing 8% overall.

This has happened due to the increasing prominence of such companies as Samsung, with plenty of Android and Windows devices, and ASUS, most probably due to its range of Transformer tablets, not to mention the overwhelmingly popular Nexus 7.

According to IDC:

“Apple’s iPad once again led the market, and the firm’s shipment total of 22.9 million units was exactly in line with IDC’s forecast for the period. A strong iPad mini launch, plus availability of the fourth generation full-sized iPad, led to solid 48.1% shipment growth over the same quarter last year. However, strong competition in the market led to Apple’s market share declining for a second quarter in a row (down to 43.6% from 46.4% last quarter). Number two vendor Samsung experienced 263% year-on-year growth, shipping nearly 8 million combined Android and Windows 8 tablets during the quarter to grab 15.1% of the market, its same market share total from the previous quarter.”

However, don’t take this report as fact, because – as 9to5Mac points out – the data has been made with some amount of guesswork, as Amazon never publishes its data. Also, the numbers also show the high likelihood that plenty of cheaper, no-name brands were counted to make the data, when they really shouldn’t have been.

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