Android takes huge bite out of Apple's share of tablet market

iPad shipments in Q2 slump 14.2 per cent annually while Android shipments almost double over the same period

The tussle for the top spot in the tablet market has been won by Android-based tablets, according to new stats that show the firm has massively widened the gap between it and nearest rival Apple in Q2.

In last year's second quarter, Android narrowly led Apple's iOS, with the duo's market share standing at 51.4 per cent and 47.2 per cent respectively, according to Strategy Analytics.

But in the quarter just gone, Android devices enjoyed a surge in popularity, taking its market share to 67 per cent compared to just 28.3 per cent for Apple.

The figures show Apple shipped 14.6 million tablets in Q2 - down 14 per cent annually - compared to the 34.6 million Android slabs that were flogged - up 87 per cent over the same period.

Strategy Analytics' director of tablets Peter King said iPad Minis did not deliver what Apple had hoped.

"In the same quarter a year ago the first Retina-display iPads were launched, which could partly explain the decline as there were no new models in this quarter. However, to compensate that, iPad Mini, which was not available a year ago, [is] now freely available [and] was expected to take the figure higher than 14.6 million."

Some 2.3 million devices running Windows were shipped in Q2, the analyst claimed, giving it a 4.5 per cent share of the market. The analyst said the recent Surface RT price cut will see an uptick in shipments this quarter.

BlackBerry's share of the tablet market dropped from 0.9 per cent to 0.2 per cent, after just 100,000 units were shipped in the second quarter.

In total, the global tablet market saw 51.7 million devices shipped in Q2 - a 43 per cent annual growth. King added that a lack of new releases in the last quarter meant the market was in a rest period.