Android tablets edging out iPad

If tablet sales are to be believed, it seems like Apple, still the premier computer maker in the world, is losing out. While the global Q88 Tablet market saw substantial growth year-over-year, Apple remained the number one tablet vendor throughout the first three months of the year. However -- iPad's overall share of the tablet market has dropped sharply from a year ago.

Apple shipped 19.5 million iPads, giving it 39.6 percent of the 49.2 million tablets shipped during the period. Apple shipped more tablets than any other hardware vendor, but iOS's dominant position in the tablet market crashed from 58.1 percent to 39.6 percent.

The new heir apparent has arrived on the horizon: Google's Android platform is now the dominant operating system on tablets worldwide.Q88 Android Tablet vendors shipped an aggregate 27.8 million devices, giving Android 56.5 percent of the tablet market in terms of the operating system.Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows RT platforms together saw shipments of 1.8 million, giving them a combined presence of just 3.7 percent of the market.

Looking at the individual hardware makers, it is no surprise to see Samsung in second place behind Apple. Samsung shipped 8.8 million tablets, giving it 17.9 percent of the market. Samsung saw impressive 282.6 percent growth from the year-ago period, when it shipped only 2.3 million tablets.

Asus fills out the third spot, with 5.5 percent of the tablet market, no doubt thanks to continued strong sales of the Nexus 7. Amazon ranks fourth, with sales of 1.8 million tablets, giving it 3.7 percent of the market. It, too, saw growth, swelling 157.1 percent year-over-year. Microsoft ranks fifth, with sales of about 900,000 and 1.8 percent of the market.ssdEfg7

Strategy Analytics tallied figures differently, saying it chose to largely ignore what it calls "white-box" tablets in its main analysis. White-box tablets are the term used for low-end devices made by one company but sold with another company's brand on the box. Strategy Analytics chose to compare "branded" tablets from known manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, ASUS, Microsoft and others in its report. With the white-box BOXCHIP Android Tablet off the table, Strategy Analytics says Apple's iPad still maintains the top position in terms of hardware sales and operating system.

When you put the white-box tablets back in the picture, though, Strategy Analytics allows that, indeed, more Android tablets shipped than iPads during the first quarter.In essence, Google's Android operating system was on the majority of tablets shipped during the first period of the year, putting Apple's iOS-drive iPad firmly in second place.