U.S. tech giant Apple Inc.'s market share in tablet PCs declined on-year in 2013 despite improved sales of iPad lineup as Android-powered models became more dominant, market data showed Monday.

The world's No. 2 smartphone maker sold 74.2 million units of iPad last year, up 8.5 million iPads from a year earlier, to take up 32.7 percent of the global tablet PC market, according to the data by market researcher Strategy Analytics.

It marked a 5.7 percentage point drop from 2012 when Apple accounted for 38.4 percent of the world's tablet PC market.

The combined shipments of Android table PCs, led by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., came to 141.4 million units in 2013, up 40 million units from 2012, with their market share advancing 3 percentage points to 62.3 percent.

Microsoft's Windows-powered tablets also gathered ground in terms of market presence over the cited period by selling 11 million units to take up 4.8 percent, a significant rise from 2.5 million units tallied in 2012.

Strategy Analytics said Apple's once-per-year tablet refresh strategy made users seek after other latest options rolled out by rivals.

In the fourth quarter, Android tablets took up 61.8 percent of the market, trailed by iPad with 35.6 percent and Windows-powered models with 3.3 percent, the researcher added. (Yonhap News)