Samsung holds on to top spot in smart connected device charts

Apple trails South Korean rival by 5.7 per cent in market covering PCs, tablets and smartphones according to IDC

Samsung has widened the gap between itself and biggest rival Apple in the smart connected device market after almost doubling its shipments over the past year, according to the latest figures from IDC.

In the third quarter of 2012, Samsung grabbed a 21.8 per cent share of the market, which covers PCs, tablets and smartphones, while Apple accounted for 15.1 per cent of the market in the same period. Last year, Apple trailed Samsung by just 0.1 per cent.

Samsung saw a whopping 97.5 per cent increase in its Q3 shipments year on year, with Lenovo experiencing the second-highest shipment growth of 60 per cent. HP was the only vendor in the top five not to grow, taking a 20.5 per cent dent in its shipments figure.

Ryan Reith, programme manager at IDC, said Apple and Samsung have very different market approaches.

"The battle between Samsung and Apple at the top of the smart connected device space is stronger than ever," he said. "Both vendors compete at the top of the tablet and smartphone markets. However, the difference in their collective ASPs is a telling sign of different market approaches.

"The fact that Apple's ASP is $310 [£193] higher than Samsung's with just over 20 million fewer shipments in the quarter speaks volumes about the premium product line that Apple sells," he added.

Overall, the global smart connected device market has grown by more than a quarter year on year, and was valued at $140.4bn in Q3, according to the analyst.

IDC predicts that the holiday season will further boost the market, and forecasts that Q4 will see shipments surpass 362 million units, valued at $1692bn.

It attributed this growth to high demand for smartphones and tablets over the festive period.

In 2011, PCs accounted for 39.1 per cent of the smart connected device market, but by 2016 IDC expects the figure to drop to just 19.9 per cent.