The iPad is without question the most popular tablet available for purchase right now and its status is of course proven by the sales figures that Apple announces once every three months. The Apple company has sold 67 million iPad tablets since its launch until now, and now 65% of the tablet market is owned by this "magical" product. Practically two thirds of the global sales of tablets they are taken over by iPad, and things don't seem to be going in any other direction for those from Apple.
The media tablet market shipped 18.2 million devices in 1Q'2012, which represents a 185% YoY gain and a -33% sequential loss in shipments. Apple's 11.8 million iPad shipments were spurred by the launch of a third-generation lineup and price reduction on iPad 2 models, while Samsung's 1.1 million shipments returned the vendor to the number two spot after Amazon's Kindle Fire shipments fizzled entering 2012.
To see how big the difference is between Apple and the rest of its competitors, we find out that Samsung would have delivered 1.1 million tablets in the same period, so we are talking about an enormous difference. Practically, Apple sold almost 11 times more tablets than Samsung, but in the case of those from Samsung, we are not talking about actual sales, but about products sent to the distribution chain, so there is a chance that not even half were sold. In conclusion, Apple is the absolute leader on the tablet market, and the difference between the closest competitor is extraordinarily large.
