London: Sales of Apple iPads will be overtaken by those of Android tablets for the first time this year, according to new data.
The research firm International Data Corp (IDC) said that shipments of Apple’s tablet are predicted to dip below 50 percent of the market as smaller-sized devices catch on with more consumers.
The firm said that iPad shipments are expected to account for 46 percent of the market in 2013, down from 51 percent last year, Telegraph reports.
Devices running Google’s Android are expected to grow their market share to 49 percent this year from 42 percent last year, the firm said.
The total number of tablets shipped this year is predicted to hit 190.9 million units, it added.
IDC also predicted that tablets running Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform would grow their market share from 1 percent last year to 7.4 percent in 2017.
Tablets running the Windows RT operating system, which is not compatible with older software that runs on Windows, will see their market share stay below 3 percent through 2017, it added.
ANI
First Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 15:41