In the third quarter of 2012, Samsung and Apple increased their shares and continued their lead in the worldwide market of smart connected device, a category that combines personal computer (PC), smartphone and tablet computer, market research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) said on Monday.

A new report by IDC showed that global shipments of smart connected devices reached 303.6 million units in the third quarter, up 27.1 percent over the same period last year.

Among the vendors, Samsung maintained the top position and Apple ranked second with market shares of 21.8 percent and 15.1 percent respectfully, according to the report.

The two were followed by Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Sony, whose market shares were all in single digit percentages.

Looking forward, IDC said shipments of smart connected devices will continue to surge in the current quarter and beyond.

Global shipments of smart connected devices are expected to surpass 2.1 billion units in 2016, which would represent an increase of 76.5 percent compared to the annual shipments in 2012, the research firm predicted.

The market leadership of Samsung and Apple indicates that the smart connected device market is entering a multi-device era and demand for such devices is shifting from the more expensive PCs to more reasonably priced smartphones and tablets.

Both Samsung and Apple are dominant in the smartphone and tablet fields, while some traditional PC vendors like HP are virtually non-existent in the mobile device space.

"Both consumers and business workers are finding the need for multiple 'smart' devices and we expect that trend to grow for several years, especially in more developed regions," Bob O' Donnell, a program vice president at IDC, said in a statement.

Source: Xinhuanet