Despite Apple’s tangible market momentum today, Samsung is gaining ground on Apple in the global branded tablet arena.
“The 200 million annual shipments milestone for branded tablets continues to elude OEM vendors and overall growth for 2014 is set to come in at a disappointing 2.5%,” ABI Research reports.
In the first half of this year, Apple and Samsung continued to lead branded vendors, although with “mixed fortunes.”
“Even though the top two branded tablet suppliers combined for nearly 70% of all shipments, Lenovo and Intel are increasingly being seen as the next growth engines for the wider tablet ecosystem,” ABI reports.
When it all boils down to the cold hard data, Apple iPad units were down 13% while Samsung units were up about 26% year-over-year in the first six months of the year.
“The roller coaster ride from the leading two tablet vendors has market watchers looking to other vendors to create sustainable growth,” says senior practice director Jeff Orr. “All eyes are on Lenovo as it is one of few to demonstrate consistent growth over the past year.”
