We think of Apple’s iPad as the dominant tablet, but that isn’t necessarily the case anymore. Statistics from Business Insider Intelligence suggest that Android now accounts for 64 per cent of the global tablet market.
BI’s analysis of shipments for the Q2 2013 suggests that bargain-priced Android tablets are growing market share, especially in countries where Apple’s premium prices are less affordable. (Australia is not one of those countries.)
For developers, that doesn’t mean the iPad is a poor choice; bargain tablet buyers may not want to pay for apps, Apple’s device still enjoys a huge chunk of the market, and new iPad models this year or next are likely to drive a sales boost. Nonetheless, the notion that iOS-only is enough doesn’t seem valid for tablets any more.
Android Tablet Shipments Now Dominate The Global Market [Business Insider]
Comments
21 responses to “The iPad Is Not The Biggest-Selling Tablet Platform”
This just shows that the Android OS has a larger market share than Apple’s iOS for tablets (as expected since Android is on dozens of tablets, whereas iOS is only on the iPad), but the iPad tablet itself is still the highest selling single model of tablet.
Yeah, sorry Angus – no way that iPad isn’t the dominant tablet. And I’m a self-confessed Android fanboy…
That’s meaningless in an article purely about statistics..
Dominant isn’t the same as volume of sales. What do you mean by dominant? Influential?
Yeah the title of this post doesn’t really match what is actually being said. Android is not a tablet after all, so it cant be knocking the iPad off its pedestal yet.
Point taken — I’ve added the word ‘platform’ to the headline to make it clearer.
Well, now the headline’s blatantly false, since the iPad IS the biggest selling tablet platform. You’re confusing the tablet OS with the tablet itself. The article is about the former, not the latter. So an accurate headline would be something like “Android is the Biggest-Selling Tablet OS”.
Don’t push it.. Angus already graced this thread with a single comment.. We’re making progress.
One day we will wear you down Angus, and you will talk to us like several of your (in my subjective opinion) better columnists already do.
These misleading titles are getting really annoying. I don’t think I see a day go by that there’s at least one article where people are commenting about bad titles.
Any Apple iPad will be good enough for me no matter where it is on the pedestal or what it’s with on same. Should be getting one shortly as i really want to play flight control and use it as a virtual keyboard. Anything Steve Jobs had anything to do with is automatically on that pedestal. I think that the first iPad was the last product he launched before he passed away. I will always remember that with the video d/l from YouTube.
… must… resist… Apple… troll…
lol
Anything you can do on an iPad, you can do on an Android tablet, just with a lot more restrictions.
a lot less*
Err, I think you’ll find the iPad definitely IS the highest selling tablet. Just as the iPhone is the highest selling phone. You’re confusing the product with the OS. Android outsells iOS by miles, but it’s across a bazillion products, none of which individually outstrip the iPhone.
I think that the main difference between the two are the number of and quality of apps made for a tablet form factor. I think this is where iOS is ahead of Android, mainly because:
a) devs only have to consider a few model of the iPads (e.g. consider use of memory, resolution, cpu, etc) when making their app, whereas Android has a great range of devices with varying specs so sometimes the experience may not be so great on one Android tablet over another.
b) Average spend per user on an iOS is generally higher and more apps are made for iOS first. Therefore, devs would want to see (higher) revenue sooner and would generally release on iOS first. Piracy is more prevelant and accessible in Android versus having to jailbreak iOS.
iOS seems more entrenched in English-speaking countries. I noticed Android is _much_ more popular in continental Europe, and an accessory seller I spoke to said that it’s much the same in Asia.
I want to get a better sense of this. What are these sales – wholesale or consumer? Judging by Web traffic on tablets, only 25% is on android. If they are at parity or selling in higher volume where is the corressponding traffic? I have a feeling there’s a lot of androids out there – just on a shelf or in a warehouse.
The last new iPad was the ipad 3 over 2 years ago, iPad 4 and mini is just rehash of old designs. Meanwhile Samsung, Google, Asus and co have filled the market with innovative new products. Of course Android is winning market share.
Could someone tell JB Hi FI? They have what seems like 500 covers for ipads, but hardly any for Android tablets. Last I checked, only one for Nexus 7
Much like trying to get cases for tablets/laptops other than iPad/iMac form factors.