Android gains tablet market share

Android tablets took 39% of the world tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new research from Strategy Analytics - though as many as half of those were not running Google-approved versions of the operating system, The Guardian reports.

Apple dominated the rest of the market on its own, taking 58% of the market during the period as it sold 15 million iPads, more than double the number of the same period in 2011. That was down from a 68% share a year ago - but the key reason for the fall was the entry of Amazon's Kindle Fire, which uses a "forked" version of Android which does not use the Android market, though it does default to Google search.

While Apple shipped 15.4 million iPads during the quarter, Android makers shipped 10.5 million tablets, more than tripling the 3.1 million that shipped a year earlier, the Los Angeles Times notes.

The Android surge was led primarily by tablets from Amazon and Samsung Electronics, according to Strategy Analytics' Neil Mawston.

According to The Telegraph, data from analysts IHS suggests, however, that Apple has regained its lead in smartphone sales, after briefly being overtaken by Samsung.

“Apple returned to the number one rank in global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter as consumers flocked to buy the newly introduced iPhone 4S,” IHS said. It added, however, that “based on strong sales of its broad line of smartphone products, Samsung has become the world's largest smartphone brand for the entire year of 2011”.

Apple shipped 37 million smartphones worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 17 million in the second quarter. Samsung, overall in 2011, shipped 95 million smartphones, up 278% from 25 million in 2010.