Apple’s grip on China tablet market loosens

This March 16, 2012 file photo shows a customer talking with an Apple worker, in blue, inside an Apple store on the first day of the launch of the new iPad, in San Francisco. Worldwide shipments of tablet computers slowed down in the second quarter because Apple didn’t release a new model of its trend-setting iPad, research firm IDC said Monday, Aug. 5, 2013. Shipments totaled 45.1 million units in the April-June period of 2013, down nearly 10 percent from the first three months of the year. AP

SEOUL, South Korea — Apple’s grip on China’s tablet market has loosened as Asian tech companies increase sales with cheaper Android tablet computers.

Dickie Chang, senior market analyst at IDC, said Thursday that Apple supplied 28 percent of tablet computers in China during the April-June quarter, down from 49 percent dominance a year earlier.

The iPad maker was still the biggest tablet supplier in China, its key growth engine, but its momentum has slowed.

Chang said South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, China’s Lenovo, and Taiwan’s ASUS and Acer benefited with a surge in their market share.

He said Samsung claimed 11 percent tablet market share, up from 6 percent.

China is a key market for consumer technology companies as growth in sales of smartphones and tablets slows in developed countries.