Apple is expected to unveil a smaller iPad at an event in San Francisco today. The new slate would presumably be aimed at stemming the loss of market share to other 7-inch slates offered by Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Samsung.

While the late Steve Jobs panned the idea of a smaller tablet, consumers appear have been receptive to the smaller form factor, as well as the lower price tag. Apple has lost almost 20 percent share of the media tablet market over the past year.

According to IDC, four of the top five worldwide vendors saw their shipments increase year over year. Samsung experienced exceptional growth, and landed in second place with 2.4 million units shipped, up from 1.1 million units a year ago. Amazon rebounded from a sluggish first quarter to post shipments of 1.2 million Kindle Fire tablets.

Still, Apple continues to dominate the market. According to IDC, Cupertino shipped 17 million iPads during the second quarter, up from 11.8 million units the previous quarter and well above its previous record of 15.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Overall, IDC reports that Apple controlled 61.5 percent of the worldwide media tablet market in the second quarter followed by Samsung's distant second, which accounted for 7.3 percent of the global market.

The competition isn’t slowing any, as new entrants hit the market almost weekly. Microsoft will launch its new Windows 8-based Surface tablet in the next few weeks, and Google recently launched its Asus-produced Nexus 7 tablet.

Apple’s event today will take place at 10 a.m. PST and will be broadcast live via the company's website on any Mac, iOS device, or second- or third-generation Apple TV.