14 DAY TRIAL // Last year was one of constant shipment growth for tablets, and the trend was continued in the first quarter of 2014, but only just.
While tablet shipments managed to reach 50 million and even go a bit beyond the mark, the increase over the first quarter of 2013 was of only 4%. IDC, like most other market analysts, expected a bit more.
In case you want a more accurate figure, the shipments were of 50.4 million, give or take a few thousand. It is a figure roughly 2 million above the one reached in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Q1 2013 is still the most relevant though, for comparison purposes. Speaking of which, Apple's shipments fell 16% on-year, while Samsung went up 32%.
Meanwhile, the Android OS secured two thirds of the segment, while Windows carved some of the remaining share for itself.
The final tally was this: 32.5% of tablets were Apple iPads, 22% were Samsung slates, 5% were ASUS models, and the remaining were divided between Lenovo (4.1%) and Amazon (1.9%).
The main reason for the slowdown in sales is simple: most potential buyers already own a tablet and aren't about to change it for a new one every other month.