Apple has lost more than 40 per cent of its share of the Chinese tablet market over the past year to cheaper rivals led by Samsung Electronics, as devices based on Google’s Android and other operating systems rapidly overtake the US company’s gadgets.

In the second quarter, Apple shipped 1.48m iPads in China, 28 per cent of the tablets shipped in that market, according to research firm IDC. This was down from a 49 per cent market share a year ago. Samsung shipped 571,000, or 11 per cent of the total, in the second quarter of this year.

The data echo statistics showing Apple is losing ground in the tablet market worldwide. Apple’s global tablet market share dropped to 32.4 per cent in the second quarter from 60.3 per cent a year earlier, IDC said earlier in August.