According to the latest research from our Tablet & Touchscreen Strategies (TTS) service, global tablet shipments reached 25 million units in the second quarter of 2012. Apple rose to 68 percent global market share, its highest level for almost two years. Microsoft tablets remain niche, but attention is turning to the upcoming Windows 8 launches.

Global tablet shipments reached 24.9 million units in Q2 2012, jumping 67 percent from 14.9 million in Q2 2011. Demand for tablets among consumer, business and education users remains relatively healthy. Apple shipped a robust 17.0 million iPads worldwide and maintained its strong market leadership with 68 percent share during the second quarter of 2012. Apple continued to shrug off the much-hyped threat from Android and the iPad’s global tablet share is at its highest level since Q3 2010.

Android captured 29 percent share of global tablet shipments in Q2 2012, remaining static from 29 percent a year earlier. Global Android tablet shipments grew by more than half to 7.3 million units. Despite high expectations for companies like Amazon, Samsung, Acer and Asus, the Android community has yet to make a serious dent in Apple’s dominance of the tablet market. Unspectacular hardware designs, limited uptake of cellular models and a modest number of tablet-optimized services have been among some of the main reasons for Android’s mixed performance so far.

Other findings from the research include:

• Global tablet shipments grew 67 percent annually in Q2 2012. Demand remained relatively healthy, although this was the industry’s slowest growth rate since the finger-driven tablet market began in Q2 2010, as shipments of some Android and Apple products moderated slightly in a volatile world economy;

• Microsoft captured a niche 1 percent global tablet share in Q2 2012. The upcoming release of Windows 8 later this year cannot come quickly enough for Microsoft, so its hardware partners, like Dell, can start competing more effectively in the tablet space.

Exhibit 1: Global Tablet Operating System Shipments and Market Share in Q2 2012  [1]

It is being widely reported a top civil court in the United Kingdom has provisionally ruled that Apple will need to place a notice on its website for several months stating that some of Samsung's Galaxy tablets did NOT copy the iconic iPad's hardware design. The provisional ruling also requires Apple to place adverts in major national UK newspapers, like the Financial Times, to state the same claim. Only the UK, and no other country, seems to be affected at this stage. If the UK ruling gets implemented, this will be a small psychological win for Samsung, following some minor legal losses against Apple in other parts of the world recently, like the US. The UK is the largest tablet market in Western Europe, bigger even than Germany and France. We forecast the active installed base of tablets to grow over 100% in the UK this year. More details of that UK forecast, and 87 other countries worldwide, can be downloaded by clients of our Tablets & Touchscreen Strategies (TTS) service from this published report.