The growth in sales of tablets in 2013 was fueled by the low-end smaller screen tablet market, and first time buyers. This led to Android becoming the dominant tablet operating system, accounting for over sixty percent of the market.

New figures from Gartner reveal that worldwide sales of tablets to end users reached 195.4 million units in 2013, a 68 percent increase on 2012.

Android sales grew by 127% while those of Apple's iPad only increased by15%. This meant that, whereas in 2012 iOS had enjoyed 53% share of the market compared to Android's 46%. in 2013, Android surged into the lead with 62% of the market compared to 36% for iOS.
 

Worldwide Tablet Sales to End Users by Operating System

Source: Gartner (February 2014)

Commenting on Android's performance, Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner, said:

"In 2013, tablets became a mainstream phenomenon, with a vast choice of Android-based tablets being within the budget of mainstream consumers while still offering adequate specifications. As the Android tablet market becomes highly commoditized, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience and meaningful technology and ecosystem value — beyond just hardware and cost — to ensure brand loyalty and improved margins."

With regard to the geographical distribution of sales Gartner analysts found that emerging markets recorded growth of 145 per cent in 2013, while mature markets grew 31 percent. Cozza noted that:

"Apple's tablets remain strong in the higher end of the market and, Apple's approach will continue to force vendors to compete with full ecosystem offerings, even in the smaller-screen market as the iPad mini sees a greater share”

The figures also show that Microsoft's tablet volumes went up by 247% but even though its share doubled this was from 1% in 2012 to 2% in 2013. Cozza commented:

"To compete, Microsoft needs to create compelling ecosystem proposition for consumers and developers across all mobile devices, as tablets and smartphones become key devices for delivering applications and services to users beyond the PC."

Gartner's findings include a slight ray of hope for Microsoft in that worldwide sales of ultramobiles to end users increased 68% in 2013 to reach 216 million units. Although the tablet remained the most popular device, accounting for 90 percent of overall sales of ultramobiles in 2013, clamshell and hybrids, where Microsoft enjoys better shares, were up by 8 percent and 2 percent respectively.