Just a few months ago, we saw IDC gazing into their crystal ball and forecasting that Apple’s tablet market share will dip below 50% in 2016. The latest data from the analytics firm, however, indicates that the global market share for the iPads is shrinking faster than previously believed.

According to the firm, iPad shipments will reach 46% in 2013, a pretty significant drop from last year’s number of 51%. With shipments of Android tablets expected to grow to 49% this year, up from 42%, Apple will lose its lead in the tablet race for the very first time.

The research also talks about the growing popularity of smaller-sized tablets, like the Nexus 7 and iPad Mini. “One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size,” IDC said. Considering that HP is about to re-enter the market with the 7-inch Slate 7, the party is about to get merrier.

Meanwhile, things might not look so hot for Windows 8 tablets last year, when it only held a 1% market share, but it seems miracles do exist, as Microsoft’s tablet platform is expected to grab 7.4% of the tablet market… in 2017.

As for the overall tablet shipment forecast for 2013, the old figures of 172.4 million units have now been raised to 190.9 million units.

The post IDC: Apple’s iPad to give up its tablet crown to Android in 2013 appeared first on Android Authority.