Tablet sales jumped in 2013, but the majority of that growth was sucked up by Android devices, which made up about 62 percent of the number sold. iPads placed a distant second — but Apple devices are still more numerous than any single Android brand.
2013 saw about 195 million tablets sold, according to analytics firm Gartner — far more than the previous year's 116 million. But that increase was almost entirely owing to low-end Android sales more than doubling year-over-year: from 53 million in 2012 to 121 million in 2013.
Apple, meanwhile, posted modest growth, from 61 million to 70 million devices sold (the number is lower than Apple's own reports; the discrepancy is not explained). The popular iPad Air and new iPad mini were released late last year, however, so much of the sales boost they provide isn't reflected in these numbers.
But while Apple was left behind in total sales, it still sells almost double the units of the next brand down — Samsung, of course, with about 37 million devices shipped (Samsung does not report sales directly). Amazon sold just under 10 million — so who makes up the bulk of sales?
No-name and region-specific brands, it looks like, all falling under the category "Other" and amounting to a massive 60 million devices sold. Could one of these small fry be the next Samsung? Probably not just yet, since they're competing in a race to the bottom, offering basic Android functionality on devices costing under $100. Few would call such tablets superior to an iPad Air or Galaxy Tab — but at a fifth of the price or less that's hardly relevant.
