Tablet computers running Google's Android software will catch up with Apple's iPad and surpass

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it in 2016, research firm Informa said.

Informa said it expects Apple's current 75 percent market share to fall to 39 percent in 2015, when Android market share will grow to 38 percent.

"From 2013, as cheaper and more advanced Android tablets enter the market, we forecast that sales will pick up considerably, eventually surpassing iPad sales in 2016," analyst David McQueen said in a statement on Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics Galaxy Tab has been the best-selling Android tablet so far, but also other vendors including Motorola Mobility (MMI.N) use it on their devices.

"We have seen a huge explosion in the tablet market in recent years, driven primarily by the iPad, and we estimate that the market will go from strength to strength, growing from under 20 million tablets sold in 2010, to over 230 million in 2015," McQueen said.