Ever since the announcement of the original iPad way back in early 2010, it has quickly become the de facto standard by which all other tablets are compared. The simplistic design, the powerful hardware and the tried and tested iOS software with a great ecosystem ensures that iPad is the leading tablet in the market. However newer players will always be a threat.
And that threat comes in the form of Android tablets. While iPad is still the leader, Apple’s tablet market share has dropped from a strong 65.5% in Q2 2012 to 50.4% in Q3 2012. According to the figures by IDC the tablet market grew by 6.7% this quarter. 27.8 million tablets were sold from which iPad was responsible for half. On the other hand Samsung managed to increase its share to 18%.
While 50% is an incredibly strong position to be in, Apple faces extremely stiff competition from the likes of Samsung and Asus in the Android tablet sector. Samsung with its Galaxy Tab series and Asus with the Transformer series. Not to mention the competitively priced Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. Apple’s tablet market share faces stiff competition in the coming months. Whether they can fight it off with the iPad 4 and iPad mini is yet to be seen.