The Apple iPad is no longer dominating the tablet market

Apple's days of domination of the tablet market have come to an end based on the latest data. During its fiscal third quarter, Apple shipped a fewer than expected 14.6 million tablets which was down from the prior year's figure of 17 million. Meanwhile, shipments of Android flavored slates rose from 10.7 million in 2012 to 28.2 million during the second calendar quarter (equivalent to Apple's Q3). The 163% gain in Android tablet shipments has allowed tablets powered by Google's open source OS to take a 62.6% share of the global tablet market last quarter versus the 32.5% held by Apple. Amazingly, just one year before, Apple had 60.3% of the tablet market while Android owned 38%

The data, which comes from IDC, notes how Samsung shipped 8.1 million tablets in the April-June period. While that was lower than the 8.6 million shipped during the first quarter, it blew away the 2.1 million tablets that the Korean OEM transported in last year's second quarter. Lenovo and Acer each made the top five. Lenovo shipped 1.5 million tablets during the quarter, surpassing the million mark for the first time ever. With a 313.9% increase in shipments year-over-year, Lenovo now has a 3.3% market share. Acer's 1.4 million in tablet shipments was a 247.9% increase year-over-year, and 35% increase sequentially, leaving it with a 3.1% share.

According to IDC's research director Tom Mainelli, new tablets from Apple and Amazon are expected to energize the market by the fourth quarter.



source: IDC via BGR