New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS): Apple shipped 12.9 million iPads in the second quarter (Q2), capturing 31.9 per cent market share in the category, followed by its nearest rival Samsung which shipped 8 million tablets with a distant 19.6 per cent share, according to latest IDC estimates.

The April-June period was another strong quarter for both Chromebooks and tablets with both device categories recording growth despite a challenging year-over-year comparison.

According to preliminary data from the IDC's ‘Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker', Chromebook shipments grew 68.6 per cent (year-over-year) with volumes reaching 12.3 million units.

The tablet segment was a bit more tempered than Chromebooks but still managed to grow 4.2 per cent YoY with shipments totalling 40.5 million units.

"Opportunities in the education market are still ample for both tablets and Chromebooks. Online learning has gained rapid traction and has pushed forward the digital revolution in the learning space," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC.

Despite the positive results during the quarter, both categories are experiencing some slowdown from the boom in the preceding quarters.

For Chromebooks, while still in high demand and even on backlog for many education deals, vendors have started prioritising higher margin Windows laptops given the on-going component shortages.

"For tablets some of this applies, but there is also bigger concern that consumer demand around tablets will slow much faster than Chromebooks or even the broader PC market," the report showed.