According to IDC Q4 2013 global tablet shipments reach 76.9 million units with 28.2% Y-o-Y growth-- an impressive growth rate, one might say, but not when compared to the 87.1% Y-o-Y growth from Q4 2012.
Meanwhile full year 2013 WW shipments total 217.1m units, up by 50.6% from the 144.2m units shipped on 2012. But you don't even need to be an analyst to realise the Q4 2013 totals represent a "significant" (as IDC puts it) sign of a market on slowdown.
"It's becoming increasingly clear that markets such as the US are reaching high levels of consumer saturation and while emerging markets continue to show strong growth this has not been enough to sustain the dramatic WW growth rates of years past," the analyst remarks. "We expect commercial purchases of tablets to continue to accelerate in mature markets, but softness in the consumer segment—brought about by high penetration rates and increased competition for the consumer dollar—point to a more challenging environment for tablets in 2014 and beyond."
Apple leads the Q4 2013 tablet market, with shipments growing by 13.5% Y-o-Y to 26m units. However it loses global market share (from 38.2% in Q4 2012 to 33.8%) through competition with increasingly stronger rivals. For instance 2nd placing Samsung manages captures 18.8% Q4 2013 global market share, up from 13% in Q4 2012, with shipments reaching 14.5m units.
Following in the Top 5 are Amazon (7.6%), Asus (5.1%) and Lenovo (4.4%).
"Lenovo’s access to the Chinese whitebox manufacturing infrastructure has helped it drive more low-priced tablet products into the market, growing its share from just 1.3% in the same quarter last year," IDC concludes. "The company's strength in emerging markets, and its increased market share in adjoining markets such as PCs and smartphones, makes it well positioned to see additional tablet gains in 2014."
