The iPad will be overtaken as the top tablet seller in Australia by 2015, analyst firm Telsyte has predicted, while local tablet sales in the last six months prepare to overtake sales in all of 2012.
Telsyte said today nearly 2.3 million tablets were sold in the first six months of 2013, compared with the 2.4 million sold in all of 2012.
The six-month sales figures represent an almost 50 percent jump in the number of Australian tablet users to around seven million.
Telsyte anticipate sales of Android tablets will overtake Apple iDevices by 2015.
Samsung tablets accounted for almost 40 percent of all Android tablets sold in Australia, mirroring the company's dominance in the smartphone market.
Windows ranks a distant third in the tablet market, accounting for only five percent of domestic sales. Microsoft's own Surface tablet nabbed a share that was "relatively bigger" than 25 percent of total Windows tablet sales.
[Related: Microsoft cuts Surface prices in Australia]
Microsoft tablets are expected to account for 20 percent of sales by 2017 according to Telsyte's estimates.
Telsyte analyst Alvin Lee told CRN that consumers – rather than enterprises – drove overall tablet growth.
Apple continues to lead tablet sales with the iPad nabbing a 52 percent market share. Lee believes the iPad Mini helped Apple fend off growing demand for smaller tablets running Android.
Android tablets account for 43 percent of total sales.
Yesterday it was revealed Microsoft will purchase Nokia's devices and services for $7.8 billion. Lee believes Microsoft will leverage its acquisition of Nokia with the release of a Nokia branded tablet sometime next year.
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