Tablet shipments grow by 142.4 per cent

Fuelled by rising demand for smaller screen devices, worldwide tablet shipments grew by 142.4 per cent to 49.2 million units in the first quarter of 2013, compared to 20.3 million units in the first quarter of 2012, according to IDC.
Apple tablet shipments grew by 65.3 per cent to 19.5 million units for a 39.6 per cent market share as it saw sustained demand for the iPad mini. Samsung shipments increased by 282.6 per cent to 8.8 million units for a 17.9 per cent market share, driven by market traction for its smaller-sized tablets and the popularity of Android.
Asus moved into third place as its shipments grew by 350 per cent to 2.7 million units for a 5.5 per cent market share. The company benefited from demand for its highly marketed Nexus 7 device. Amazon shipments increased by 157.1 per cent to 1.8 million units for a 3.7 per cent market share, but it slipped from third to fourth place.
Microsoft, which had no tablets a year ago, shipped 900,000 Surface RT and Surface Pro units for a 1.8 per cent market share. Many of the tablets it shipped were Surface Pro models, which began shipping to the US and Canada in February. Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets continued to struggle to gain traction. Total combined Windows 8 and Window RT shipments across all vendors reached 1.8 million units.