Lower-End Tablets Affect Apple’s Market Share

Mar 07, 2014

The advance of Google’s Android operating system isn’t just seen in smartphones.

Worldwide sales of tablets soared 68% to 195.4 million units in 2013, up from 116.3 million in 2012, according to latest data from research firm Gartner. Tablets sold using Apple’s iOS operating system saw their share decline to 36% from 52.8%. But Android tablets, racking up 121 million sold units, saw market share increase to 61.9% from 45.8% as consumers moved away from a saturated high-end tablet market and flocked to lower-end devices at all price points.

“In 2013, tablets became a mainstream phenomenon, with a vast choice of Android-based tablets being within the budget of mainstream consumers while still offering adequate specifications,” said Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza.

“As the Android tablet market becomes highly commoditized, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience,” said Ms. Cozza.

Gartner analysts said emerging markets recorded growth of 145% in 2013, while mature markets grew 31%.

Still, Apple was the biggest individual seller overall, shipping 70.4 million tablet units in 2013, up from 61.6 million in 2012. Samsung and ASUS came second and third respectively, selling 37.4 million and 11 million.

“Apple’s tablets remain strong in the higher end of the market and, Apple’s approach will continue to force vendors to compete with full ecosystem offerings, even in the smaller-screen market as the iPad mini sees a greater share”, added Ms Cozza.

Samsung, which saw its market share rise to 19.1% from 7.4%, showed the highest growth of the worldwide vendors.

The expansion and improvement of its Galaxy tablet portfolio, together with strong marketing and promotions, helped Samsung shrink the gap with Apple, Gartner added.

Not so good news for Microsoft.

4 million tablets using Microsoft’s operating system were sold in 2013, up from 1.2 million in the previous year. But its market share, at 2.1% in 2013, remains small.

“Despite Microsoft now acting more rapidly to evolve Windows 8.1, its ecosystem still failed to capture major consumers’ interest on tablets,” Gartner said.

Source: The Wall Street Journal