Worldwide tablet shipments continue to surge, growing 142.4% year over year in the first quarter of 2013, according to research firm IDC. Tablet shipments totaled 49.2 million units in the quarter, surpassing that of the entire first half of 2012. With growth fueled by increased market demand for smaller screen devices, tablets have shown no sign of slowing down.
Apple outperformed IDC's most recent projections for the quarter, shipping 19.5 million units compared to a forecast of 18.7 million units. The company, which historically has experienced a steep drop off in first quarter shipments (following strong holiday sales in the fourth quarter of 2012), saw some smoothing of that seasonality in 2013. Number two vendor Samsung Electronics also performed above expectations and managed to grow its shipments over the fourth quarter as more of the company's smaller-size tablets began to gain traction in the market. Samsung has also used its recent Android smartphone growth to help bring its tablet product line into new markets and channels, leveraging the opportunity to package and bundle. The strong performance of the two market leaders helped drive total shipments to an impressive 49.2 million units for the quarter, said IDC.
"Sustained demand for the iPad mini and increasingly strong commercial shipments led to a better-than-expected first quarter for Apple," said Tom Mainelli, tablet research director at IDC. "In addition, by moving the iPad launch to the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple seems to have avoided the typical first-quarter slowdown that traditionally occurred when consumers held off buying in January and February in anticipation of a new product launch in March."
Asustek Computer managed to move into the number three vendor spot as it continued to see decent tablet shipment demand from the highly marketed Nexus 7 device. But, with Google's I/O conference right around the corner and expectations of an imminent device refresh, Asustek will need to find a way to sustain its momentum. Amazon fell to the number four position, once again the victim of a highly seasonal product cycle, added IDC.
Microsoft, which is a focal point for many in the tablet space, entered the top five for the first time as shipments of its Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets combined for a total of nearly 900,000 units. Many of those units were Surface Pro, which the company started shipping to the US and Canada in February 2013. Microsoft has said that it is actively widening its regional distribution of both Surface RT and Surface Pro products. Beyond the Surface products, Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets continued to struggle to gain traction in the market. Total combined Windows 8 and Windows RT shipments across all vendors reached 1.8 million units, noted IDC.
"Recent rumors have circulated about the possibility of smaller screen Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets hitting the market," said IDC researcher Ryan Reith. "However, the notion that this will be the saving grace is flawed. Clearly the market is moving toward smart 7- to 8-inch devices, but Microsoft's larger challenges center around consumer messaging and lower cost competition. If these challenges are addressed, along with the desired screen size variations, then we could see Microsoft make even further headway in 2013 and beyond."
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