Global Q2 2012 tablet shipments reach 25 million units according to IDC estimates-- up from 18.7m in Q1 2011, with growth reaching 33.6% Q-o-Q and 66.2% Y-o-Y.
As one can predict, Apple continues to own the tablet market with 68.2% market share and Q2 2012 shipments reaching 17m units thanks to the "strong" March new iPad launch. IDC says "the vast majority" of customers still favour iPads over the competition despite slowdown in mature markets, while vertical markets also show "increasingly strong" iDevice interest.
Far behind is Samsung, in 2nd place with shipments reaching 2.4m units (up from 1.1m in Q2 2011) and 7.3% market share thanks to "exceptional" 117.6% Q-o-Q growth. Amazon also sees something of a rebound, with the US-only Kindle Fire shipping 1.2m units.
Asus shipments total 855454-- but it is worth nothing shipments of the well-reviewed Asus-made Google-branded Nexus 7 will only start to factor in analyst totals from Q3 2012.
The tablet market should become even more interesting from H2 2012 onwards. Aside from new products from both Amazon and (most likely) Apple, we should be seeing Microsoft's Surface tablet and Windows 8 and RT-powered devices from October 2012. Will customers manage decide between the various mobile flavours of Android and Windows, or simply go straight for familiar iOS staple?