BackApple iPad’s China market share slumps as Samsung tablets gain
Apple’s iPad accounted for 28% of tablet shipments in China during the period, down from 49% a year earlier
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Beijing: The iPad’s share of China’s tablet- computer market plunged by more than 20 percentage points in the second quarter as Samsung Electronics Co. built on its lead in smartphones to cut into Apple Inc.’s sales.
Apple’s iPad accounted for 28% of tablet shipments in China during the period, down from 49% a year earlier, Dickie Chang, a Hong Kong-based analyst with researcher IDC, said in an e-mail. Samsung was second as its share surged to 11% from 6% a year earlier, he said.
China, Apple’s largest market outside the US, poses a challenge for the Cupertino, California-based company as price- conscious consumers turn to less costly tablets and smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system. The iPhone’s share of China’s smartphone market was cut by almost half to 5% in the quarter as Samsung led with 18% and local makers like Lenovo Group Ltd. gained ground, researcher Canalys said this month.
Android players are growing with strong price advantage, Chang said in the e-mail today. Consumers are familiar with Android OS from smartphone use as well, so they would like to use Android tablets.
Beijing-based Lenovo was third in the tablet market with 8%, down from 9% a year earlier, Chang said. Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc., both based in Taipei, each had 1% share, he said.
Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment on the IDC data.
Apple’s China tablet shipments in the period rose to 1.48 million units from 1.15 million a year earlier, Chang said. Samsung’s jumped to 571,000, from 133,000. Lenovo’s rose to 413,000, from 204,000.
Other vendors among the top 10 in market share with approximately 1% each include Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp., and Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., both of which are based in the southern China city of Shenzhen.
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