Apple’s share of the branded tablet market is falling as consumers choose the Android OS for both their smartphone and tablet.
Apple’s iOS is still top dog in the operating system market for branded tablets, but Google’s Android is edging closer, according to new figures from research firm Strategy Analytics.
Worldwide shipments of branded tablets reached 40.6 million units in the first quarter of 2013, with units using Android scoring 43 percent of the action, up from 34.2 percent in Q1 last year.
Apple’s share was 48.2 percent, down from 63.1 percent in Q1 last year. Meanwhile Windows, which had no market share in Q1 last year, grabbed 7.4 percent in Q1 2013.
The overall market was booming. Total shipments by all brands of 40.6 million units in Q1 2013 was up 117 percent from just 18.7 million units in Q1 2012.
“Demand for tablets among consumer, business and education users remains strong,” said Peter King, Strategy Analytics’ director of tablets. “Apple produced a solid performance this quarter as the (iPad) Mini had its first full term and shipped a robust 19.5 million units.
However, King added, “When we add white-box tablets intothe mix, Android market share of the total tablet market increases significantly to 52 percent and iOS slips to 41 percent, as the bulk of the white-box tablets are Android low-budget models, aimed at a different market to the branded tablets”
– Meanwhile the worldwide mobile phone market grew four percent year over year in the seasonally slow first quarter of 2013 – with smartphone shipments beating feature phones for the first time, according to competing researcher IDC.
IDC’s latest Quarterly Tracker shows mobile phone vendors shipped a total of 418.6 million units in Q1, compared to 402.4 million in the same quarter of 2012 and 483.2 million units in Q4 2012. Of theses 216.2 million, or 51.6 percent, were smartphones.
Samsung was the leader in the smartphone sector by brands with 32.7 percent of the market, up from 28.8 percent in Q1 last year. Apple was in second place with 17.3 percent, down from 23 percent.
South Korea’s LG was in third spot, a long way behind the leaders with 4.8 percent, followed by Huawei on 4.6pc.
