Only three months into 2012 and we’re already on pace for a new yearly record for tablet shipments.
According to a new report from IDC, worldwide tablet shipments totaled 28.2 million in the last quarter of 2011. That’s an increase of 56.1% from the previous quarter alone.
As a result of the unprecedented momentum, IDC is raising its 2012 targets 106.1 million tablet shipments globally.
2012, essentially, is just building upon the growth observed in late 2011.
“Products across the pricing spectrum sold well, including everything from Apple’s premium-priced iPads to Pandigital’s line of Android-based, entry level tablets,” says Tom Mainelli, a Research Director with IDC.
Despite an impressive debut by Amazon, which shipped 4.7 million Kindle Fires into the market, Apple still continued to see strong growth in the quarter, shipping 15.4 million units in 4Q11, up from 11.1 million units in 3Q11, IDC says.
“As the sole vendor shipping iOS products, Apple will remain dominant in terms of worldwide vendor unit shipments,” Mainelli adds. “However, the sheer number of vendors shipping low-priced, Android-based tablets means that Google’s OS will overtake Apple’s in terms of worldwide market share by 2015. We expect iOS to remain the revenue market share leader through the end of our 2016 forecast period and beyond.”
