Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association: Tablet PC shipments in Japan reached 5.68 million in 2012

A research institute in Tokyo, Japan shared a set of data on tablet shipments in Japan, which showed that domestic tablet shipments grew by 104.3% from March 2011 to the end of 2012, and Apple has been the largest tablet shipment company in Japan for three consecutive years. Japanese users currently use tablets not only for playing games on smartphones, but also as their main mobile entertainment device.

Tablet shipments may surpass PC shipments within two years

Tablet shipments in Japan reached 5.68 million units in 2012, with rapid growth in the second half of 2012. The annual shipments of feature phones and smartphones in Japan are 5-6 times higher than tablets.

The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association released a report in April saying that PC shipments in Japan during the same period were 11.15 million units, a 1.1% decline. Although Microsoft released Windows 8, the new version of Windows with the most users in the world, in October 2012, it still failed to change the fact that PC shipments declined.

Research institutions predict that tablet shipments in Japan will reach 6.9 million units in 2013, and will grow to 9.5 million units in 2015. This number is already very close to the current shipments of traditional PCs, and it is likely to surpass PCs within two years. Before 2010, the tablet market was almost blank.

Apple still dominates Japan's tablet market

In 2012, Apple Japan successfully sold 2.98 million iPads (including iPad Mini), accounting for 52.5% of the market share. Following Apple is ASUS, which ranks second in the Japanese tablet market due to Google Nexus 7.

Android is catching up

In terms of tablet operating systems, the report states that Apple is far ahead with a market share of 52.5%, while Android has a market share of 42.4% (total shipments of 2.41 million).

Other operating systems account for 5.1% (290,000 units shipped), and currently do not have a large share in Japan.

From the chart we can see that the market share of Android devices in Japan is growing rapidly, and its growth rate has exceeded that of Apple iOS devices.