Android Gains Q3 Tablet Market Share Over Apple

Third quarter tablet shipments for 2013 increased from Google's Android devices. Apple still remains as the number one tablet seller however it is losing its worldwide market share to Android. According to IDC,  tablet shipments for third quarter was at 47.6 million units, a 7.0 percent growth sequentially and 36.7 improvement from last year. “Android products once again drove much of the shipment growth in the market as iOS growth stalled and Windows tablets continued to struggle to win over consumers." IDC stated.

It was also stated that Apple’s decision to delay product launches from early this year to date was what led to the decrease in market share. “With no new iPad product launches in the second or third quarter to drive volume, Apple experienced a quarter-over-quarter decline in shipments from 14.6 million in 2Q13 to 14.1 million in 3Q13. Year over year, iPad shipments grew less than one percent. Apple’s slowing growth — caused in part by its decision in late 2012 to move its product launches from earlier in the year to the fourth quarter — has caused the company’s tablet market share to slip to 29.6 percent, its lowest share to date.” This decline is due to Apple changing its product launch dates to fourth quarter with the objective of capitalizing on the upcoming holiday season.

Apple’s new iPad Air ships today with iPad mini with Retina to launch in November.  The new iPhone 5c, iPhone 6s, iPad Air, iPad Mini retina and MacBook Pro were recently launched these past few weeks. The iPhone is accounted for over half of Apple’s revenue, while iPad makes up for close to 20 percent of revenue.

Android competitors are winning the challenge with Apple’s tablet market share sales falling to 32 percent from 60 percent in the second quarter. It has now been a decade that Apple’s net income has been down year over year.  Samsung had 20.4 percent share, up from 12.4 percent share last year. Its tablet shipments more than doubled to 9.7 million up from 4.3 million last year. Asus shipped 3.5 million units in the third quarter, 2.3 million from last year. Lenovo and Acer also gained at 4.8 and 2.5 percent. It appears Apple is losing revenues on most of its phones.

Huawei

Huawei has taken the place as one of the top 5 smartphone suppliers worldwide for the third quarter. Its smartphones are low-end devices which are competitively priced running on Android. The Chinese company makes a significant impact with the present shift in the global market.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi is one of Apple’s biggest threats. Known as the “Apple of China”, Xiaomi is strongly emerging within Asia’s smartphone markets. Both companies have relevant product similarities. According to Canalys, The company had sold more phones than Apple in China for the first time in second quarter.

Micromax

Micromax now has plans to dominate new markets for Android. Micromax gains 22 percent of India’s smartphone market.

The company aims to reach 33 percent of share for India by 2015. The Android smartphone company is looking to expand in more global markets which include European countries Romania and Russia.

McKinsey & Company indicates that India, China and Russia are likely to emerge as significant players over the next two decades, a development that will give Western companies major short-term cost-reduction opportunities that they must capture.  The cost of labor, which on average is three to five times lower in these countries than it is in the developed world, also makes emerging markets attractive for labor.

The smartphone market is aggressively growing and competitive. The company’s growth and revenue is dependent on the iPhone for Apple. As the smartphone market continues to grow Apple’s performance has been put to the test with lagging in the premium smartphone market where Android rivals, Lenovo, Samsung, LG and other competitors have gains. The entire industry grew at a 36.7 percent rate, which left Android competitors to advance in growth.

As the smartphone market matures, Android competitors will continue to refine and evolve smartphones and strengthen the Android ecosystem with competitive price points. Android competition and innovation is expected to emerge from Asian markets in the next few years.