Bigger screens to drive global tablet sales to 161mn units in 2020

The consumers are switching to larger displays and as a result, global tablet sales are expected to increase 1 per cent (year-on-year) to 160.8 million units in 2020, according to a new report.

As a result of Covid-19 counter-measures, consumers have been buying tablets at the fastest rate in six years and the majority of tablets (56 per cent) shipped in 2020 forecasted to be 10-inch or larger for the first time ever.

According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, consumers are switching to larger displays, with a majority now larger than 10-inch for the first time.

The increasing use of tablets for productivity and education has also led to higher sales of detachable 2-in-1 devices (such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7, and all of Apple’s current iPad models except for the iPad mini), which allow for a keyboard to be attached, the report mentioned.

“Even low-cost entertainment slate tablets have caught a piece of the boom in tablet demand. Small sized tablet demand is declining as large smartphones/phablets continue to put pressure on small tablet demand,” said Eric Smith, Director, Connected Computing.

Accordingly, tablet vendors have focused their portfolios on the 10-inch to 13-inch segment and notebook sizing has moved to 13-inch and beyond for the most part.

“In addition to the shift toward larger screen sizes, detachable tablet shipments have more than doubled from 17 per cent tablet market share in 2017 to 40 per cent in 2020,” Smith added.

Notebook vendors are competing just as strongly for entertainment needs (like for gaming, or adding improved displays and audio) and have an advantage in the productivity category which has been built up over the last two years during the commercial PC refresh.

“Furthermore, economic stimulus during the pandemic may be driving artificially high demand and as reality sets in and in-person work and school become widely available once again, intense competition will result in more market consolidation,” said Chirag Upadhyay, Senior Research Analyst.

“Over the long-term, this crash course in working from home will result in some portion of workers, students, and employers that will remain remote after the pandemic, sustaining a higher level of mobile computing demand than previously anticipated”.