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Cheaper tablets propelled the growth of the tablet market in the last year, loosening Apple’s grip as the king of the tablet world, according to a report released today from the Pew Research Center.
The report said 22 percent of all U.S. adults surveyed actually own a tablet while another 3 percent said they regularly use someone else’s tablet for their browsing needs.
The percentage has been growing since last year and Pew attributes the popularity to companies releasing cheaper tablets in late 2011.
About 68 percent of tablet owners got their tablet in the last year, with 32 percent in 2012 alone.
The lower-cost tablets seem to have taken a chunk out of Apple’s market share. Now, it only owns half the market as oppose to near domination a year ago.
Pew said 52 percent of tablet owners report owning an iPad, compared with 81 percent last year. The rest of market is mostly made up of Android devices with Amazon’s Kindle Fire trailing the iPad at 21 percent, followed by the Samsung Galaxy at 8 percent.
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The survey, conducted June 29 through August 8 among a sample of 9,513 adults who were 18 years of age or older, was done before the introduction of Google’s Nexus 7 or Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD. Both devices, which also have lower price tags than the iPad, had promising initial reviews and could cut into Apple’s future profits as well.
Android is rapidly changing the tablet market, as it has done with smartphones. Of the 44 percent of adults who said they have a smartphone, 46 percent have an Android phone, 38 percent, have an iPhone and 10 percent have a Blackberry, according to Pew.
