Apple’s iPad may be leading the tablet revolution with a global penetration of 68 percent, but it’s even more popular in China, where the iPad holds nearly 73 percent of the tablet market, according to the latest stats by Analysys International, China Daily recently reported.
That’s an impressive feat in a country where even the cheapest iPads cost 7 to 8 percent of an average worker’s annual salary. Prices have come down from the iPad’s initial Chinese release, which likely contributed to iPad’s 20 percent market share increase in China over the previous quarter, but still represent a whopping budget item for the average Chinese family.
Still, China has middle class of 250 million people and growing, so there are likely plenty who can afford the tablet that are well above the average annual income in China, perhaps soon to be more than the population of the US.
Lenovo, the world’s second largest PC manufacturer, held a distant 8.4 percent market share in China. Samsung managed a 7.69 percent year on year decrease in market share in China, ranking at 3.59 percent.
Apple launched the iPad onto the Chinese market last March, but sales were delayed in many regions over a trademark dispute between Proview Shenzhen Technology, which claimed rights to the iPad trademark since 2000. Apple had bought the rights to the company from a Proview subsidiary which the larger company claimed had not authorized the sale. A Hong Kong court later ruled that Apple had rights to the trademark and could begin selling the iPads on the Chinese market.
The latest numbers from IDC indicate that total world shipments of the iPad hit 25 million units in the second quarter of 2012, up from 18.7 the previous quarter, with a 68.2 percent market share. Worldwide shipments of iPads have grown 84.3 percent in the last year. Comparatively, Samsung, Apple’s next in line competitor, holds a 9.6 percent global market share.