We already know that Android is, and has been for a while, the most dominant force in the smartphone market, but the tablet market is an area which has typically been a bit harder to crack. However, the latest research put together by Strategy Analytics shows that Android is also breaking away from the rest of the pack in the tablet market too.
The research found that global tablet shipments grew again over the previous year, with 51.7 million units shipped in the second quarter of the year. Last year, 36.1 million units shipped during the same quarter, so the global tablet market has grown by 43 percent over the past 12 months.
Looking specifically at each operating system, Android tablets accounted for 34.6 million of global tablet shipments, whereas Google's largest rival, Apple, only accounted for 14.6 million. Percentage wise, Android tablets have grown by 87 percent over the year, whilst Apple experienced a 14 percent decline.
In terms of market share, Android now commands a massive 67 percent of the global tablet market, more than doubling Apple's 28 percent share. Microsoft is still languishing in third, and is clearly struggling with a mediocre growth of just 4 percent over the year.
This marks one of the biggest yearly market shifts in the history of the tablet market, which some analysts have put down to a lack of new Apple products, whilst Android manufacturers have continued to pump out a variety of new tablets. However, it should be noted that the iPad Mini was launched at the end of last year, which was supposed to compete with smaller Android tablets.
The iPad Mini clearly hasn't gained enough traction to offset the lack of other new Apple products, leaving consumers with a clear choice when it comes to newer, high end tablets available from Android manufactures. With the new Nexus 7 already shipping, it looks like Apple will have to conjure up something special to turn the tide back in its favor.
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