Market research firm ABI Research released data showing that manufacturers of Android-based tablets shipped more units during this year’s second quarter than Apple shipped iPads. In addition, Android tablet revenues matched those of iPads during the same quarter. Earlier this year, the Android manufacturers would ship more tablets than Apple..
The speed with which Android manufacturers have caught Apple seems to have been due to price. Smaller, less-expensive 7-inch tablets now dominate Android tablet shipments. Sales of Amazon’s Kindle fire were enough to pressure Apple into releasing the iPad Mini, though the company had previously claimed the 10-inch iPad was the proper size for a tablet. Now ABI’s data shows that Apple is outselling the larger iPad, making up 60% of iPad shipments and a full 49% of iPad revenue. The shift toward smaller tablets has also pushed down the average selling price of both Android tablets and iPads.