2014 tablet market: Samsung soars, Apple slips

Annual global tablet sales are due to rise 16% each year until 2019, when they are expected to total 290 million units, according to the latest report from ABI Research.

Annual global tablet sales are due to rise 16% each year until 2019, when they are expected to total 290 million units, according to the latest report from ABI Research.

While Apple, Amazon and Google -- some of the leading players in the current market -- are due to see their market share decline over the coming years, Samsung, Microsoft, Acer, Asus and Lenovo should step up and claim a larger piece of the pie.

Barring exceptional Q4 results, iPad sales are estimated to have declined in 2014 for the first time ever. ABI Research projects that Apple will have sold just 68 million tablets in 2014, compared to 74 million one year earlier. Its main challenger, Samsung, is estimated to have shipped 43 million tablets this year, up from 38 million in 2013.

In 2014, Android devices accounted for more than half of all tablets sold worldwide (54%), ahead of iOS (41%) and Windows, a distant third (5%).

In 2015, ABI Research predicts that around 194 million tablets will be sold globally.