Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s tablet share in China fell significantly during the second quarter, according to the latest data from IDC. Bloomberg News reports that Apple’s iPad made up 28 percent of tablet shipments in China during the quarter. That’s down from 49 percent in the same quarter a year ago, IDC researcher Dickie Chang told Bloomberg today via email.
Samsung, others steal from Apple
IDC reported that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) saw its tablet share surge during the second quarter, rising to 11 percent. Samsung’s tablet shipments climbed more than fourfold to 571,000 units shipped to China during the second quarter. Apple only increased its tablet shipments in the region by 28 percent.
Half of all tablet shipments in China came from producers which had 1 percent or less of the nation’s tablet market share apiece. That’s a significant increase from 36 percent in the same quarter of last year.
Chinese companies are Apple’s biggest threat
The biggest problem Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) seems to be facing is competition from less expensive Android tablets. Chinese companies like Lenovo Group Ltd. (PINK:LNVGY) (HKG:0992), Ramos and Teclast are taking advantage of the high price of Apple’s tablets and offering products that cost far less. This same trend slashed the company’s smartphone market share almost in half.
According to IDC, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s biggest challenge is from these small Chinese companies, especially those making tablets using the free open source Android operating system made by Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). The company said the majority of Apple’s lost market share when to these companies.
Apple also struggling in smartphones
IDC also reports that Chinese vendors are taking advantage of the fact that Apple hasn’t released a new iPhone or iPad since last year. The company saw its iPhone shipments to China drop to 5 percent during the second quarter, compared to 9 percent in the same quarter a year ago. That’s the lowest market share for Apple since the fourth quarter of 2010, according to Canalys.
