ISTANBUL/DUBAI: Buoyant consumer demand for tablet devices has been confirmed in the latest shipment data for the second quarter, which shows growth more than doubled in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa.

Similar patterns emerged across both the Turkish and MENA markets, expressed by portable PCs seeing declines, the growing popularity of low cost tablets and the Android operating system, and Apple holding on as the leading brand.

According to analysis from the International Data Corporation (IDC), media tablet shipments to Turkey grew 264.5% year-on-year to 746,499 units and it is expected that sales of tablets will overtake portable PCs for the whole of 2013.

Apple has a slim lead with 18.1% of the market, closely followed by Samsung with 17.8% and local manufacturer, Casper, with 12.3%.

IDC research analyst Ayse Kaptanoglu said he expected low-cost products from Asia to continue to expand, at least for the moment, partly because consumers seem satisfied to use them for their core functions.

However, he also expected a boost for the major tablet brands as they introduce more affordable products to the market and so become more competitive.

IDC also found tablet shipments in MENA grew 208% to 2.79m units, overtaking PC shipments for the first time, with the Android operating system accounting for 2m.

Apple narrowly remained market leader with shipments of 682k units followed by Samsung with 627k, Lenovo of China with 140k and Asus of Taiwan with 107k.

IDC analyst Victoria Mendes expected Apple to benefit from its new product launch later this year, but cautioned that the region's tablet market will continue to be driven by low-cost devices.

"The main focus of every vendor now is to secure its position in the market by grabbing the biggest share possible from the two tablet giants of Apple and Samsung," she said.

Data sourced from International Data Corporation; additional content by Warc staff