In a recent study released by Telsyte, it found that sales of Apple tablets in the Australian market rose by 52 per cent. However, sales of Android tablets rose in an amazing 186 per cent.

Overall, sales of media tablets in Australia doubled to 4.8 million units in 2013.

Telsyte analyst Foad Fadaghi said that the challenge for Apple is the market growth of more affordable tablets powered by Android.

"The growth in low-cost tablets is likely to impact Apple in the medium to long term if features and functionality of the low-cost Android devices improve. The availability of popular apps and games on Android tablets is likely to continue to put pressure on the Apple ecosystem," Mr Fadaghi said.

The study estimated that Android would likely surpass sales of Apple tablets by 2017.

In the opinion of Mr Fadaghi, Apple will doubtfully focus its sales strategy towards the lower end of the market, leaving it all behind to Androids dominance. Apple will not make its iPad cheaper, following its failure with the launch of iPhone 5C.

The study also saw an unexpected turn for Windows-based tablets now catching with both Apple and Android.

"Windows devices could impact Android in the mid-market, especially if they are sold as PC replacements in coming years. For windows to be successful Telsyte believes Microsoft will need to aggressively shift its focus from PCs to tablets and reduce licensing fees to make it competitive to Android."

To conduct the study, Telsyte divided the market into three segments: low-cost devices sold for $200 or less; medium-cost devices sold between $200 and $450 and the high-cost devices sold more than $450.

Telsyte projected that 29 per cent of 2013 sales came from the low- to medium-cost devices. This segment is expected to grow to over 50 per cent of total sales by 2018.

All in all, 9.4 million Australians own tablets currently, and this figure is expected to increase to 22 million by 2018.

The study also predicted that by 2015, personal computers will be replaced by tablets as 50 per cent of those interviewed for the study said that they now prefer tablets over personal computers.