Tablet sales up 65% in Q2
July 24, 2013
Tablet sales reached 51.9 million units worldwide in Q2 2013, representing 65 per cent growth over Q2 2012, and a 17 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase. Futuresource anticipates total tablet sales will exceed 252 million units in 2013, an annual growth rate of 63 per cent.
Growth is beginning to be driven more by emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa where penetration is much lower than more developed markets such as the USA, which is approaching 33 per cent population penetration (as of end Q2 2013). Growth in emerging regions exceeded 110 per cent in Q2, versus 64 per cent in North America, and 73 per cent in Western Europe.
Rapidly falling prices are helping to accelerate global tablet uptake, particularly with the continued popularity of sub $199 (at retail) tablets. The average tablet trade price of $272 in Q2 2013 was 25 per cent lower than in Q2 2012.
Despite facing increasing competition from brands such as Samsung, Amazon, Asus and other PC brands, Apple still retains a dominant lead in the tablet market.
Smaller-screened devices continued to gain market share in Q2 2013, making up more than 50 per cent of total shipments in the quarter compared to fewer than 25 per cent in the same period in 2012.