Although the global tablet market has cooled some from the white-hot 2013 it enjoyed, there has been no shortage of milestone moments in the tablet space this year.

Most tablet vendors experienced a 30% unit decline in the first quarter of 2014, but ABI Research expects growth to resume over the balance of the year, as branded OEM shipments will exceed 200 million in 2014.

This year should also be a “watershed” for the tablet installed base, ABI reports, with active Android devices surpassing iOS for the first time.

“Tablet hardware sales from branded OEMs are likely to top US$85 billion this year,” says senior practice director Jeff Orr. “We have yet to reach the top of the tablet market and with many world regions just now starting to adopt, the best is yet to come.”

Despite the aforementioned shifts in the tablet market, Apple’s iPad is expected to remain the leading OEM brand in 2014.