According to Gartner, the year 2013 was a pretty good year for tablets – a total of 195.4 million units were shipped during the year. The almost 200 million units is a 68% increase over the number of tablets shipped during 2012. The report also says that the sales of tablets was boosted by the low end smaller tablets and hence Android continues to dominate the tablet market. You can check out the numbers below.
As you can see from the data above, the sales of Apple iPads have increased, but only marginally. Despite a increased sales, Apple has lost considerable ground in the tablet market as its share has dropped from 52.8% to just 36% within a year. The Android tablets on the other hand have risen from 45.8% to around 61.9% and there by dominating the tablet market.
“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. As the Android tablet market becomes highly commoditized, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience and meaningful technology and ecosystem value — beyond just hardware and cost — to ensure brand loyalty and improved margins.” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.
Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablets are slowing gaining popularity and as a results, their share in the market has doubled to 2.1% from the previous year’s 1.0%.