A piece of research from Strategy Analytics confirms what many must have been thinking since witnessing Apple’s fall from dominance in the iPad space, as it shifted into falling sales – which is that Apple is no longer top of the tablets.
Strategy Analytics also says that Samsung has failed to hold its position too, and points to a growing number of white boxed tablets replacing them. The two brands combined market share is just 43.2%. A year ago it was 47.8%
The big jump has been at Lenovo, which has grown its Android and Windows tablets from its Yoga, MIIX and Helix brands to 11.5% at the breakneck speed of 41% growth in a single year. Overall market shipments across all brands for tablets grew slightly at 6.6% for 2014.
The numbers come from a new report entitled Tablet & Touchscreen Strategies, which says that tablet growth will remain on its current trajectory, but warns that smaller players will carve our more market share.
Meanwhile White-Box vendors are building market share already up at 29% from just 24% percent in 2013 – via entry-level and ultra-low priced Tablets in emerging markets, and as holiday promotions in developed markets. Strategy Analytics says that Apple will remain the top Tablet vendor for the foreseeable future, but growth will be muted as consumers take longer to replace premium tier tablets.
| Global Tablet Vendor Shipments (millions of units) and market share | |||||
| 2014 | MarketShare % | 2013 | MarketShare % | Growth Y/Y % | |
| White Box | 70.4 | 29.0% | 55.2 | 24.3% | 27% |
| Apple | 63.4 | 26.1% | 74.2 | 32.6% | -15% |
| Samsung | 41.4 | 17.1% | 41.7 | 18.3% | -1% |
| Lenovo | 11.5 | 4.7% | 8.1 | 3.6% | 41% |
| ASUS | 11 | 4.5% | 12.1 | 5.3% | -9% |
| Amazon | 7.5 | 3.1% | 9.6 | 4.2% | -22% |
| Others | 37.5 | 15.5% | 26.6 | 11.7% | 41% |
| Source; Strategy Analytics | |||||