Entire tablet market slumps in Q1
Just a few days ago, DigiTimes predicted that Q2 tablet shipments could be as high as 21.6 million units, and manufacturers would love to see that because IDC has reported that the entire tablet market slumped in Q1. IDC had predicted that the market would see a downturn this quarter, especially after a record-breaking 28.2 million unit Q4 to end 2011, but the slump was worse than expected, down to just 17.4 million shipments in Q1.
Apple had a relatively good quarter, increasing its share of the tablet market from 54.7% in Q4 2011 to 68% in Q1 2012, but recording fewer shipments (15.4 million in Q4 2011, and just 11.8 million in Q1 2012.) Samsung took over second place as Amazon took a huge plunge. In Q4 2011, Amazon surprised everyone with 16.8% of the market on 4.8 million shipments, but dropped to just 4% this quarter.
Lenovo and Barnes & Noble rounded out the top 5, which makes us wonder where Asus would have landed on the extended list. Overall, Android tablets made a poor showing, so there needs to be a big turnaround to hit the numbers DigiTimes predicted.
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