Android tablet shipments took off last year, shipping more units than others in the tablet market, according to technology research firm IDC. According to IDC’s numbers, Android tablets shipped 27.8 million units in Q1 2013, which is a 247 percent improvement over Q1 2012. That leaves Android with a 56.5 percent share of the tablet market, with Apple coming in with 39.6 percent of tablet market share.
One would assume that more Android tablet sales would spell trouble for Apple, which turns out not to be the case. Apple still shipped an impressive 19.5 million tablets out of the total 47.3 million tablets shipped in Q1 2013. So, what’s the deal then? The tablet market is growing, and rapidly. In Q1 2012, total tablet shipments stood at around 20 million, while in Q1 2013 47.3 million tablets were shipped. This means that the tablet market nearly doubled over the last year, and it’s not showing any sign of slowing down.
It’s not surprising that more Android tablets were shipped last year than iPads, as Android devices are manufactured by many different companies and come at various price points and configurations. iPad sales were robust however, with the iPad mini leading the way. According to numbers from Digitimes, 12.5 million of Apple’s tablet sales from January to March were iPad mini units, with a total of 19.5 million iPads shipped in that period.
[Via: Android Central , CNET]