Samsung already took home the crown of the largest smartphone maker in the third quarter of this year, shipping more devices than most other major manufacturers combined and grabbing 35 percent of the market, and now IDC's latest data reveals that the Korean manufacturer saw an equally impressive growth in the tablet market as well. Samsung's tablet market share gained by 8 percent (to 20.4 percent), and the company shipped 9.7 million tablets, more than double the amount of units shipped in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, Apple, Samsung's biggest and perhaps only considerable competitor, saw its market share slip from 40 percent to 29.6 percent in 12 months, as its tablet shipments remained mostly the same as the third quarter last year (14.1 vs 14 million). Of course, Apple still reigns supreme when it comes a proper app ecosystem, developer revenue, and consumer engagement, but it shouldn't be long before Samsung is able to become the largest shipper of tablets.
