Android Poised to Topple Apple's Tablet Lead

Apple’s iOS currently powers about 50 percent of all tablets but Android is poised to take the lion’s stake of the tablet market soon, ABI Research said in a recent report.

“It’s inevitable that Android tablets will overtake iOS-powered slates, though we see no single vendor challenging Apple’s dominance anytime soon,” ABI senior practice director Jeff Orr explained. “With media tablets commercially available for more than 4 years, momentum is shifting toward value and affordability, putting tablets in more of the population’s reach.” Amazon, Google, Samsung and several other firms offer tablets in the $200 range, a price point that Apple has yet to hit.

ABI research also said that China could play a big role in boosting Android’s market share in the tablet arena. Right now, however, Apple’s brand is stronger there and the lack of the Google Play app store in China gives the iPad an upper hand.

Orr expects that the iPad mini will be the “predominant iPad model after the June quarter” and estimates that sales of the smaller iPad represented 49 percent of iPads sold and 39 percent of all iPad revenue.

ABI’s report follows a similar study published by IDC in early May, which found that Android already has a 56.5 percent share of the tablet market.