IDC: ‘smart connected device’ shipments reach record 303.6m in Q3 2012, led by Apple and Samsung

Research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) says Apple and Samsung are both shipping a heck of a lot of computers, smartphones and tablets all over the planet these days. Basically.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone following this space, of course, but the numbers IDC offers are interesting (even though they should always be taken with a grain of salt):

According to IDC, the worldwide smart connected device market (PCs, tablets and smartphones) grew 27.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2012, reaching a record 303.6 million shipments valued at over $140 billion.

As for Q4 2012, IDC expects shipments to reach new record levels, rising 19.2 percent over Q3 2012 and 26.5 percent over the fourth quarter of 2011. IDC estimates Q4 2012 shipments to reach 362 million units with a market value of just over $169 billion.

That’s a lot of phones and tablets that will be landing under Christmas trees all over the world.

Also read: IDC raises 2012 tablet shipment forecast 9% on “record” consumer demand; 117.1m units, iPad 59.9%

The firm expects holiday season growth to be driven by tablets and smartphones, which are expected to grow 55.8 percent and 39.5 percent year-over-year, respectively.

PCs are, however, expected to decline slightly from Q4 2011.

From a vendor perspective, Samsung maintained the top position in Q3 2012 with 21.8 percent market share based on shipments, followed by Apple with a 15.1 percent share.

Also read: Samsung enjoys another record quarter, as Q3 2012 profits hit $7.4bn, up 91% y-o-y

The Cupertino-based electronics giant is still leading all vendors in value, however, with a total of $34.1 billion in Q3 2012 and an average selling price of $744 across all device categories – rather notably $310 higher than Samsung’s ASP.

Of all vendors, HP is the only one to have not grown its market share, dropping from 7.4 percent in Q3 2011 to 4.6 percent in Q3 2012, with shipments declining 20.5 percent during that time.

Meanwhile, IDC says it expects the worldwide smart connected device space to surpass 2.1 billion units in 2016 with a market value of $796.7 billion worldwide.

In 2011, PCs – a combination of desktop and portable computers – accounted for 39.1 percent of the smart connected device market, but IDC expects this share to drop to a mere 19.9 percent by 2016.

Also read: Android grabs 75.0% market share in Q3, followed by 14.9% for iOS and 4.3% for BlackBerry

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