Market share of tablet operating systems worldwide 2016-2024, by quarter

The global tablet operating systems market is dominated by Android and Apple's iPadOS. iPadOS has generally been the most popular operating system for tablets globally, being the leading tablet OS since 2016. Although iPadOS's market share peaked at the beginning of 2019 when it held nearly 73 percent of the global tablets market, Android quickly gained traction, increasing in market share since 2019 by over 17 percentage points, reaching 46 percent by the fourth quarter of 2024.

What is a tablet?

Short for tablet computer, a tablet is a mobile computing device with a relatively large touchscreen – the most common size for a tablet is around 10 inches. Tablet sales hit a peak in late 2013, with around 79 million devices shipped in the final quarter of that year. The market has gradually approached a saturation point since then, with shipments on a downward trend up to early 2020 before recovering and stabilizing in 2021. Similar to traditional PCs, tablets use different operating systems to run different applications and functions.

Apple, the leading tablet vendor

The Apple iPad has been the leading tablet device since its introduction to the market in 2010. Like its other revolutionary products, the iPad has also dramatically changed the tablet market not only in terms of technology but also regarding consumer expectations. In the first quarter of 2024, iPad sales generated over seven billion U.S. dollars in revenue for Apple. This amounted to an 5.7 percent share of the firm's total revenue for that quarter.