Surprise! Samsung and Apple are leading holiday sales in tech

A new report released by the IDC has indicated that Samsung and Apple are the two top competitors in the mobile space during this holiday season.

The holiday season is upon us, and shoppers are flocking to the stores to fulfill their tablet and smartphone gifting needs. To little surprise, a new the report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that Samsung and Apple are spearheading sales this season. The Worldwide Connected Smart Device report said that combined shipments of tablets, smartphones, and PCs have grown by 27.1 percent year over year in Q3 2012. This growth, however, is heavily driven by Samsung and Apple’s dominant markets: smartphones and tablets.

Samsung maintained its top spot in the competition this quarter, claiming 21.8 percent of the market share based on shipments. Apple ranked second in overall shipments, but led the market in value by raking in a total of $34.1 billion in the third quarter of 2012. This puts the average selling price of Apple devices at $744, the IDC says.

In terms of market share, Apple comes in second to Samsung with 15.1 percent. Following the two top competitors are Lenovo with 7 percent, HP with 4.6 percent, and Sony with 3.6 percent.

“The battle between Samsung and Apple at the top of the smart connected device space is stronger than ever,” Ryan Reith, program manager for the Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers at IDC.

Reith continued to highlight the different market strategies that Samsung and Apple practice, and what it could mean for their products.

“Both vendors compete at the top of the tablet and smartphone markets,” he said according to the report. “However, the difference in their collective ASPs [average selling price] is a telling sign of different market approaches. The fact that Apple’s ASP is $310 higher than Samsung’s with just over 20 million fewer shipments in the quarter speaks volumes about the premium product line that Apple sells.”

While smartphone and tablet sales may be surging during the holiday season, the IDC expects this to continue and projects shipments to surpass 2.1 billion units by 2016.  This report refers to this as a “multi-device era,” but adding that smartphones will be the preferred product category.