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ASUS and Samsung gain wide swaths of tablet market share in Q3

IDC has posted third quarter market share estimates which show that Android tablet makers had an exceptional summer. Samsung jumped more than two points over its Q2 results, claiming 20.4 percent of shipments; ASUS also thrived during the period, moving up from just 4.5 points in the second quarter to 7.4 percent three months later. Both saw big year-over-year gains, although they didn't grow as quickly as up-and-comers like Acer and Lenovo. It's not hard to see why ASUS and Samsung made such large strides -- both the Galaxy Tab 3 line and the new Nexus 7 launched in the summer.

Things weren't quite as rosy for other tablet designers. While Apple was still the top manufacturer, it slipped below 30 percent in market share. IDC hasn't yet broken down shipments by OS, but it notes that the "others" category -- including Amazon, Microsoft and other small players -- shrank slightly to 35.3 points. The field is very likely to change in the fourth quarter between new iPads, the Kindle Fire HDX and Surface sequels. For now, though, it appears that the tablet market is shifting toward the giants of the Android world.

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