Apple, the incumbent “king of the tablet”, is under threat from Samsung as it saw its slice of the worldwide tablet pie falling from 51,7% to 43,6%, while Samsung’s spurred upwards from 7,3% to 15%.
It might not yet be time to worry, but, according to Christopher Riley, the CEO of Pretoria-based notebook and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company – and one of the largest sellers of Apple iPads - Apple’s heydays in the iPad market “might well be over”.
“They are certainly not down and out, buy there is certainly increased completion of late, including a big jump in popularity by Samsung – and an increase in competition from Android-based tablets.
“The importance of recent sales statistics – as gleaned from MIRROR NEWS – show that Samsung’s market share has effectively doubled, while Apples has declined. These are the facts on the table right now. It also seems certain that Samsung will further increase its market share as the year progresses.”
Sales of Samsung Galaxy tablets made the 7.9 million mark in the last quarter of 2012, compared with just 2.2 million in the entire 2011 – according to research firm IDC.
“There is a strong move upwards,” said Riley. “even though Apple is still the best selling tablet, with a comparative sales figure of 22.9 million.”
Additionally, Samsung’s Galaxy S3 smartphone outsold the iPhone for the first time over the Christmas season, reporting a total of 18 million sales compared to Apple’s 16.2 million.
“All around, Apple is facing more competition,” said Riley.
He added that he is also noticing a “definite swing” towards more sales of Samsung and Android-driven tablets.
“Apple’s iPads are still our top seller. But we are seeing increased interest in other tablets, something that started during the latter part of last year.”
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