Tablet ownership among Americans has grown sharply over the past year. In July 2011, 11% of adults said they owned a tablet computer. Currently, 22% own a tablet and another 3% regularly use a tablet owned by someone else in the home, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. This number is very close to data from a recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that found 25% of all U.S. adults have a tablet computer.

The growth in tablet adoption is likely related to the arrival of lower-priced tablets in late 2011. Overall, about two-thirds of tablet-owning adults (68%) got their tablet in the last year, including 32% in 2012 alone.

That has lessened Apple’s dominance in the market. Now, just over half (52%) of tablet owners report owning an iPad, compared with 81% in the survey a year ago. Android-based devices make up the bulk of the remaining tablet ownership (48% overall), dominated largely by the Kindle Fire. Two-in ten (21%) own a Kindle Fire, 8% the Samsung Galaxy, and the rest, a mix of others. (These numbers match very closely with sales data which put the Apple iPad at 61% of world sales, Android devices at 31% and Windows at 4%.)

The survey was conducted before the introduction of Google’s Nexus 7 or Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD. Even before these, the influx of Android-based devices has changed the tablet market, much as it did for smartphones over the past several years. Of the 44% of adults who have a smartphone, 46% have an Android phone, 38% have an iPhone and 10% have a Blackberry.

Among those who have both a tablet and a smartphone, there is some operating system loyalty. A majority of iPad owners who also have smartphones have an iPhone (57%); just 32% have an Android phone. Similarly, 66% of those who have an Android tablet have an Android phone; 29% have an iPhone. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.