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Global tablet shipments fell by 9.7 per cent to 45.1 million units in April-June period as compared to Q1, research firm IDC said.
The top three vendors — Apple, Samsung and Asus — have posted a fall in shipments, says the IDC report.
iPad shipments of the US-based Apple declined by 25 per cent to 14.6 million units in second quarter of 2013 compared to 19.5 million in January-March this year.
“Lacking a new product launch in March to help spur shipments, Apple’s iPad saw a lower-than-predicted shipment total of 14.6 million units for the quarter, down from 19.5 million in Q1 of 2013,” it added.
Previously, Apple launched a new tablet heading into the second quarter, which resulted in strong quarter-over-quarter growth, said IDC.
“Now, Apple is expected to launch new tablet products in the second half of the year, a move that better positions it to compete during the holiday season,” it added.
Likewise, tablet shipments by Korean electronics major Samsung fell by 6 per cent to 8.1 million in April-June 2013 against 8.6 million units in January-March 2013, IDC said.
Similarly, third-place ASUS shipped a total of 2 million units in Q2 2013, down from 2.6 million in Q1 2013, it added.
On outlook, IDC said that the July-September quarter is also expected to witness the same decline.
“With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that’s likely to continue into the third quarter. However, by the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market,” IDC Research Director (Tablets) Tom Mainelli said.
A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors, he added.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, global tablet shipments were up by 59.6 per cent to 45.1 million units in April-June 2013 against 28.3 million devices in the same quarter of 2012.
While, Samsung’s tablet shipments rose over three-fold in the second quarter of this year from 2.1 million units in April-June 2013 and shipments by Asus increased more than two-fold to 2 million compared to 0.9 million during the same period.
Apple, however, posted a fall of 14 per cent y-o-y. It had shipped 17 million units in Q2 2012 compared to 14.6 million in Q2 2013.
Not all vendors experienced a slowdown during the second quarter with PC makers Lenovo and Acer re-entering the top five shippers. While Lenovo shipped 1.5 million units in April-June 2013, Acer was close behind with 1.4 million units during the same period, IDC said.
On the tablet market, IDC Mobility Tracker programmes Program Manager Ryan Reith said: “The tablet market is still evolving and vendors can rise and fall quickly as a result.”
Apple aside, the remaining vendors are still very much figuring out which platform strategy will be successful over the long run, he added.
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