While worldwide sales of tablets fell by nearly 5% in Q1 of 2014, Apple’s iPad continued to dominate the mobile PC market with nearly twice the market share of its closest competitor.
Tablet shipments dropped from 59 million units in the first quarter of 2013 to 56.3 million units in the first quarter of this year, according to a new report from market research firm NPD DisplaySearch. Apple accounted for some 20 percent of the market when laptops and ultrabooks are included, compared to 11 percent for Samsung, the next-largest competitor.
Shipments of iPads slipped to just 16.3 million in the first three months of the year, compared to 19.4 million one year ago. Samsung is believed to have seen a slight increase of around 200,000 units in shipments, to 9.9 million.
While tablet shipments slipped, they still represented over half of mobile PC shipments. Using that definition, the iPad accounted for more than 80% of Apple’s mobile PC sales.
