It turns out that Microsoft’s tablets are gaining ground in the tablet war

Jan 3, 2014 18:26 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft’s Surface tablet has often been considered a rather disappointing device, with initial sales pointing to a slow uptake of both the RT and the Pro models.

Now it turns out that Microsoft’s Surface is actually gaining ground in the tablet wars, with figures provided by ad network Chitika revealing that the Redmond’s tablet actually generated more traffic during the holiday season than Google Nexus, which is by far a more successful device.

While Microsoft Surface’s share remains low, approximately 2.3 percent, it improved its web traffic by 0.5 percent during the holidays, which could be an indication that more users are buying the tablet.

By comparison, Apple’s iPad, which is now the leader of the market with 76.1 percent, lost 1.3 percent during the holiday, so Microsoft’s own Surface actually contributed to this slight decrease.

“In the tablet space, share gains by Amazon and Microsoft, among others, contributed to the slight iPad drop,” Chitika Insights said in a post today.

“Microsoft’s Surface lineup also continued its impressive year end run. Surface users generated more tablet traffic than all Google Nexus tablet users following the holiday, making Microsoft the fourth-largest source of continental tablet Web traffic should it maintain the lion’s share of this latest share growth.”

Microsoft has recently launched the second-generation Surface tablet that includes revamped RT and Pro models featuring upgraded hardware and Windows 8.1.

The Surface Pro 2, for example, comes with an Intel i5 processor and 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM, but also with several storage options, including 512 GB versions.

The Surface 2, on the other hand, boasts an improved Nvidia Tegra processor and a full HD display, while also running the newly-launched Windows RT 8.1 for improved performance and longer battery life.