(iTers News) - Are the heydays of Apple-led smart phone and tablet boom numbered? It’s too early to answer it, but it is a matter of fact that shipments of tablet PCs are losing steam. Market research firm IDC today reported that global tablet shipments fell 9.7% from a quarter ago to hit 45.1 million units in the second quarter ended June 31.

The 2nd quarter shipments still mark a huge year-on-year gain, more than doubling 28.3 million units in the corresponding period of 2012, but             

IDC mainly blamed the lack of a new product launch in March for the sales woes. For example, market leaser Apple saw a lower-than-expected shipment of 14.6 million units for the quarter, down from 19.5 million in the first quarter of 2013.

In years past, Apple has launched a new tablet heading into the second quarter, which resulted in strong quarter-over-quarter growth. Now, Apple is expected to launch new tablet products in the second half of the year, a move that better positions it to compete during the holiday season.

Meanwhile, the other two vendors in the top 3 also saw a decline in their unit shipments during the quarter. A distant No. 2  Samsung shipped 8.1 million units, down from 8.6 million in the first quarter of 2013, although up significantly from the 2.1 million units shipped in 2Q12.

And, Asus came into the third place, shipping a total of 2.0 million units in 2Q13, down from 2.6 million in 1Q13.

"A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets at IDC.

"With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that's likely to continue into the third quarter. However, by the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market," added he.

Not all vendors experienced a slowdown during the quarter. PC stalwarts Lenovo and Acer both joined back the top five list.  Lenovo shipped 1.5 million devices, up 313.9% from a year ago, capturing a 3.3% market share. Rounding out the top 5 was Acer, which shipped 1.4 million tablets, seeing a 247.9% year-over-year growth and an increase of 35.4% quarter-on-quarter.

"The tablet market is still evolving and vendors can rise and fall quickly as a result," said Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC's Mobility Tracker programs. "Apple aside, the remaining vendors are still very much figuring out which platform strategy will be successful over the long run. To date, Android has been far more successful than the Windows 8 platform. However, Microsoft-fueled products are starting to make notable progress into the market."