Android Tablet Market Share on the Rise

According to new research, tablets running on Google's Android mobile operating system now account for over four out of every ten devices shipped to consumers.

The Strategy Analytics group has said that the platform's market share has risen to 41.3 percent during the third quarter of 2012. That's a considerable increase from the 29.1 percent market share it boasted during the same period last year.

In the same time period, the group found that Apple's iPad's share has fallen from 64.5 percent to 56.7 percent, even though the firm shipped 26 percent more tablets.

Android's market share increase through tablets is, of course, spearheaded by the likes of Google's own Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire, as well as a slew of other devices powered by the platform.

Google added to the lineup of Android-powered tablets with its announcement of the Samsung-developed Nexus 10.

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  • guess who
    HW runs SW

    SW runs on HW
    Reply
  • juanc
    Maybe because all those people returning iPads?
    Reply
  • halcyon
    About a month ago I was looking for a decent Android tablet and settled on the Transformer Pad Infinity. ...not a bad device and has already updated to JellyBean.

    IME its not quite as polished as iOS and some of my favorite apps aren't on Android yet but its getting there. I think all new Android tablets should have at least 2GB of RAM for a smooth experience...but they're getting there.
    Reply
  • ddpruitt
    Google's Android ... four out of every ten devices shipped to consumers.

    Apple's iPad's share has fallen from 64.5 percent to 56.7 percent

    Word of advice, if you see numbers being mixed (total devices vs tablets) an matched like this they're total BS. They have no clue what's going on.
    Reply
  • halcyon
    juancMaybe because all those people returning iPads?For a lot of people an iPad is the perfect tablet. iOS is smooth and has the largest base of quality apps IMO. I really like the customization of Android though. If the experience can get smoothed out and if my favorite games were available I'd be completely satisfied.
    Reply
  • house70
    ddpruittWord of advice, if you see numbers being mixed (total devices vs tablets) an matched like this they're total BS. They have no clue what's going on.Read the first paragraph again. It's not about Android devices, it's about " tablets running on Google's Android mobile operating system". Not total devices, just tablets running Android OS, also known as Android tablets.
    Got it now?
    Reply
  • cknobman
    Lets readdress this after Christmas cause I think Microsoft Surface RT has the potential to shake the market up.
    Reply
  • aicom
    cknobmanLets readdress this after Christmas cause I think Microsoft Surface RT has the potential to shake the market up.Indeed. Apple is going to have a tough year in 2013. The 10-inch iPad is going to pressured by WinRT and Clovertrail x86 tablets with much greater functionality. The iPad mini is getting the squeeze by the Nexus 10 and Nexus 7 with more capabilities for less cost. Meanwhile, Android continues to erode iOS marketshare in smartphones.
    Reply
  • wildkitten
    Two reasons for this in my opinion. One, Android is maturing and the fragmentation on Android phones doesn't seem as prevalent on the tablets, and two, a lot of Android tablets have one key feature an iPad doesn't have...and SD slot.

    A lot of people are not fans of the cloud. The reason I bought the Asus Transformer T300t was because it had a good SoC and an SD slot. While the retina display is an extremely good display and the best on the market, the display on the Asus is very good as well, and if I can't have the content on my tablet I need and want, then the display doesn't really matter.

    This is where I think Google is making a huge mistake with the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7. Yes, the Nexus 7 has sold well thus far, but the few people I know with one, their biggest complaint has been lack of the SD slot. The Nexus 4 will likely be a successful phone, but I think it's lack of an SD slot may very well cause it not to sell as well as it otherwise would simply because Google wants to push it's cloud services.
    Reply
  • wildkitten
    cknobmanLets readdress this after Christmas cause I think Microsoft Surface RT has the potential to shake the market up.The Surface tablet will likely be successful in business and anyplace where people need a seamless environment between the tablet and their PC. However, I believe MS missed a golden oppurtunity to really get the Surface seriously into the market by pricing it as high as they did. I waited to buy my tablet until I learned of the surfaces price point and it's near laptop prices pushed me away, and I don't think I will be alone in that.

    If I was MS I would have taken a similar approach to the Surface as they do the Xbox. Line up serious app support, get Surface versions of all the most popular and best apps, sell the hardware even at cost or even a slight loss and make it up on the software side.
    Reply