By guest blogger Danielle Wilson

Apple has maintained the lead in the global tablet market, but sales of the devices by smaller vendors have reached an all-time high, according to a new report from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

The report states that tablet sales grew 11 percent, worldwide, in the second quarter of this year in comparison to last year during the same period. Shipments declined 1.5 percent from the first quarter of this year but the report suggests that positive but slower growth compared to last year is expected for the remainder of 2014.

The analysis, IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, also examined sales by smaller vendors. According to the tracker, 21.9 million tablets from these companies were sold in the second quarter of this year, with 33 percent growth year to year. Those sales topped reported sales of tablets from Lenovo, Asus and Acer combined in the second quarter. (See graphic below.)

The report, which does not include information on the education-specific sales, attributes the stronger performance among small vendors to the increasing number of PC and phone companies entering the tablet market. Promotional strategies like bundled devices are credited with helping sell the tablets. 

In the U.S. education market for tablets, Apple is the dominant player, having secured more than 90 percent of the market, by one recent estimate.

Apple sold 13.3 million tablets from its iPad product line despite declining shipments in the second quarter. See this previous blog post for more about  the company’s strong global sales, in the education market, specifically. Samsung sold 8.5 million tablets, which experienced a drop in its market share by 17.2 percent. Lenovo, rounded out the top three with 2.4 million in sales.