Samsung is Q3's second largest tablet manufacturer

7. 2. What do these two seemingly random prime numbers have in common? Well if you’re Samsung, quite a lot actually. The first represents the number of tablets lines it released in 2014 (so far). The second, Samsung’s global ranking in the tablet market.

As announced by IDC yesterday, the global tablet market grew by 11.5% in Q3 2014, and Samsung took the number two spot with 18.3% of the market, with Apple of course in the lead. Credit for the growth was given to an increased number of purchases for Back-to-School type purposes and promotions, with the potential of even more growth around Black Friday. Given Samsung’s recent performance woes, this must come as some small comfort, although things must improve going forward.

It’s not hard to understand just why Samsung managed to snag the number two spot. No other manufacturer could ever come close to the sheer onslaught of products. First there was the PRO series, with the Galaxy Note PRO 12.2 , and the 3 Galaxy Tab PRO size variants. After that followed the budget-friendly Galaxy Tab 4 series and its three size variants. Then there was the Galaxy Tab S and its two size variants, the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook and it’s two size variants, and most recently the expensive Galaxy Tab Active.

Of course, the year isn’t even finished yet and there are already rumors circulating of a Galaxy Note 10.1 2015 Edition. Each product line has a specific segment of the market for which it’s aimed, but at what point does this become overkill? Apple is doing pretty well and it only has two tablets. Well, perhaps three.

So what do you think of this second-placed success? Is Samsung doing the right thing in releasing so many devices?