While the PC market continues its decline, tablet computer sales are continuing their exponential rise. The latest numbers from Futuresource indicate that some 51.9m units were sold worldwide in the second quarter, up 65pc on the previous year.
Futuresource anticipates total tablet sales will exceed 252m units in 2013, an annual growth rate of 63pc.
This is in contrast to the PC industry, where analysts like IDC have said the outlook was worse than originally predicted.
Growth is beginning to be driven more by emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, south-east Asia, the Middle East and Africa, where penetration is much lower than more developed markets, such as the USA, which is approaching 33pc population penetration (as of end of Q2 2013).
Growth in emerging regions exceeded 110pc in Q2, versus 64pc in North America, and 73pc in Western Europe.
Rapidly falling prices are helping to accelerate global tablet uptake, particularly with the continued popularity of sub-US$199 tablets. The average tablet trade price of US$272 in Q2 2013 was 25pc lower than in Q2 2012.
“Despite facing increasing competition from brands such as Samsung, Amazon, Asus and other PC brands, Apple still retains a dominant lead in the tablet market,” said Oliver Rowntree, research analyst with Futuresource Consulting.
“Smaller-screened devices continued to gain market share in Q2 2013, making up more than 50pc of total shipments in the quarter compared to fewer than 25pc in the same period in 2012,” Rowntree added.
