The worldwide tablet grew 11.5% year over year in the third quarter of 2014 (3Q14) with shipments reaching 53.8 million units according to preliminary data from the IDC research group (www.idc.com). Apple remains the number one tablet vendor.

Marked by back-to-school promotions and US appetite for connected tablets, the third quarter also saw shipments grow sequentially by 11.2% compared to 2Q14.

"Not only is the US market one of the largest for tablets, but third quarter results also indicate that this is where the growth is," says Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC Research Director for tablets. "We saw Verizon continuing to sell connected tablets at a fast pace, a strategy that we believe other carriers will replicate in following quarters. We also saw RCA enter the top 5, impacting the entire US market and worldwide ranking with one large deal linked to back-to-school and channel fill ahead of Black Friday. Those two elements resulted in the US tablet market growing at 18.5% year-over-year compared to the worldwide market growing at 11.5% annually."

Despite a continued shipment decline for its iPad product line, Apple maintained its lead in the worldwide tablet market, shipping 12.3 million units in the third quarter. Samsung held its number two position on the market with 9.9 million units shipped, capturing an 18.3% market share in the third quarter.

Asus regained its number three position with 3.5 million units and 6.5% share of the market. Lenovo fell back to the number 4 position with 3 million units. It is worth noting that Asus and Lenovo traded the positions they held in 2Q14. The top 5 was rounded out by RCA, which achieved its position by shipping 2.6 million units primarily in one country, the US. Market share for the vendors outside the top 5 continued to outgrow the market, representing 41.8% of total tablet shipments in 3Q14.