According to a previous report, it has been suggested that while Apple’s iOS is currently reigning as the smartphone platform with the largest market share, it is largely in part due to the release of the iPhone 5 although the iPad did help add on to those numbers. However in another report by ABI Research (via CNET), perhaps the iPad did not contribute as much as we would have liked to believe. According to the report, it seems that in Q3, Apple’s iPad made up 55% of tablet shipments and while that certainly indicates that they still own more than half the tablet market share, the report has indicated that this is a 14% decline from Q2, making it the lowest level Apple has seen since the introduction of the first iPad two years ago.
So where did that market share go to then? Unsurprisingly it seems that Apple’s lost market share was gobbled up by none other than their competitors – Samsung, Amazon and ASUS, with Android now accounting for 44% of tablets shipped. At the rate this is going, and unless Apple manages to release a new iPad next year that will blow the minds of customers, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Android tablet market eventually catches up and takes over the iPad. With the recent release of Google’s Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets, both of which sport pretty decent hardware and attractive prices to boot, it certainly does not seem like a stretch of the imagination. What do you guys think? Will Android tablets overtake Apple’s iPad sooner rather than later?
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