The six best-selling tablet brands of Q3

Top tablets

Apple's launch of a lower-priced iPad earlier this year is paying off for the company in terms of sales through technology distributors. Apple saw a major expansion of its share in the market during the third quarter of 2017, at the expense of other leading tablet vendors such as Samsung and Microsoft, according to market research firm The NPD Group.

The NPD Group's DistributorTrack sales database is comprised primarily of US Global Technology Distribution Council members. In the following slides are details on the six top-selling tablet vendors in the third quarter, based on The NPD Group's data.

6. Asus

Asus saw its already minimal share of the tablet market slide further during the third quarter - to 1.8 percent from 3.1 percent a year earlier, in terms of sales through technology distributors. This year, Asus unveiled a new Android tablet, the 7.9-inch ZenPad 3S 8.0, which followed the launch of the ZenPad 3 8.0 in late 2016.

5. Acer

Acer saw a small gain during the third quarter in its tablet market share, to 1.9 percent, up from 1.4 percent the year before, according to distributor sales data from The NPD Group. Acer has introduced several tablets in 2017 including two detachable 12-inch Windows tablets (the Switch 3 and Switch 5) and two 10-inch Android tablets (the Iconia Tab 10 and the Iconia One 10).

4. Lenovo

Lenovo's share of the tablet market slid during the third quarter, according to The NPD Group. The China-based company's market share for tablet distributor sales fell to 3.2 percent from 5.5 percent during the same period of 2016. Among Lenovo's new releases this year were two 12-inch Windows tablets - the second-generation ThinkPad X1 Tablet, which lets users attach external modules for added functionality, and the Miix 720, which is geared toward use by creative professionals and designed to work with the new Lenovo Active Pen 2.

3. Microsoft

Despite the launch of a new Surface Pro this year, Microsoft's market share for tablet sales through technology distributors fell during the third quarter, according to The NPD Group. Microsoft tablets accounted for 15.4 percent of the market during the quarter, compared with 17.8 percent during the same period of 2016. The new edition of the 12.3-inch Surface Pro came out in June with improvements including a promised 13.5 hours of battery life, compared with nine hours previously. Even so, it was the Surface Pro 4 - the predecessor device in the series - that ranked as Microsoft's top-selling tablet through distributors during the third quarter, The NPD Group reported.

2. Samsung

Like Microsoft, Samsung saw its market share for tablet distributor sales drop during the third quarter, according to data from The NPD Group. The South Korean firm captured 19.8 percent of the market during the third quarter, down from 22.5 percent a year earlier. Samsung's best-selling model during the quarter was the 8-inch Galaxy Tab A, an Android device that ranked at No. 5 among the most popular tablets sold via distributors in the third quarter, The NPD Group reported. Samsung also had two major tablet launches earlier this year - the Galaxy Book, a 12-inch Windows tablet paired with a newly designed keyboard, and the Galaxy Tab S3, a 9.7-inch Android tablet that comes with an upgraded S Pen.

1. Apple

The big growth for Apple tablets during the third quarter saw Apple bring in more than half of tablet sales through distributors. Apple accounted for 53.7 percent of tablet sales in the market during the third quarter - a major jump from a year earlier, when the company had market share of 44.2 percent, according to The NPD Group. Apple's newest 9.7-inch iPad dominated the list of top models sold through distributors during the third quarter. The tablet features Apple's Retina display technology, an upgraded processor, and a starting price of $469 (compared to the US$399 iPad Air 2).

The 9.7-inch, 32-GB iPad in Space Gray was the No. 1 tablet sold via distributors in the third quarter, while half of all of the top 10 models were variations of the newest 9.7-inch iPad, according to The NPD Group findings. In addition, the iPad Mini 4 ranked as the No. 3 tablet during the quarter.