The tablet market is enjoying a new lease of life which will be confirmed in 2022. Several elements tend to show that these products could play a major role in the strategies of brands historically dedicated to smartphones.
In 2021, we were talking about the start of a strong comeback of tablets. Until then, however, apart from the always popular Apple iPads, these products did not seem to be considered a priority among Android manufacturers. Apart from the Samsung Galaxy Tabs which have always tried, year after year, to resist the apple, we had few alternatives to eat.
However, in 2022, we can see that the good momentum of last year has not dried up. On the contrary, it is intensifying with more and more references launched or teased by major players in the sector. In just a few months, we have already talked about the Realme Pad Mini, the Oppo Pad Air, the Xiaomi Redmi Pad, the Honor Pad 8, the Vivo Pad or even the Nokia T10. Let’s not forget the Google Pixel Tablet either — we’ll get to that. To brew a little broad, we could even quote the Huawei MatePad Pro 2022 under HarmonyOS.
In short, all this shows that there is momentum in the tablet market. Above all, we can see the proof that these products are of increasingly strategic interest for brands. Enough to allow the slates to take a little revenge on the smartphones which have long been placed above everything.
Shelves save the furniture
“The tablet market performed better than expected despite inflationary pressures, geopolitical issues and continued restrictions in China due to Covidexplains Anuroopa Nataraj, senior analyst at IDC. According to this analysis firm, 40.5 million copies were delivered during the second quarter of 2022 (smartphones represent 286 million sales in the same period). This is a slight increase (0.15%), but still an increase compared to the same period last year. Thus, despite an unfavorable context, the tablets are doing quite well, without leaving too many feathers.
Anuroopa Nataraj believes that “several factors work in favor of tablets: one of them is the continued demand for tablets as cheaper alternatives to PCs“. That’s not all. In the IDC report, we can read that “newer vendors like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Realme also performed better than expected, which contributed to the growth of the Android tablet market during the quarter“.
Comments corroborated by the StatCounter site which shows that the market share of Android tablets is progressing in an interesting way to 48.64% in September 2022.
Note all the same that, even if the leader Apple is losing ground (51.15%), it still has a very large lead. Keep in mind that this graph opposes the apple to all Android manufacturers. The recent iPad Pro M2 and iPad 10 can expect great sales during the holiday season.
Smartphones are dull
Tablets therefore give market players a few reasons to smile. Conversely, smartphone sales continue to plummet inexorably. No wonder since there have never been so few smartphones replaced since 2008. If this is a good thing for the environment, it generates less significant cash inflows for brands.
The lack of innovation on smartphones is cited among several causes. Instead of scrambling and wasting too much energy in this sector, manufacturers may have an interest in diversifying their product catalogs to increase their sales. Tablets thus represent a good alternative for traditional smartphone manufacturers.
It’s an easy sector for these companies to enter – there have always been a lot of crossovers between smartphones and tablets – and, as we have seen, the market dynamics are more encouraging.
Google believes in it
Finally, there is another element that can greatly weigh in the balance: Google. The latter is indeed preparing a Pixel Tablet for 2023. This simple project is already encouraging for the entire sector since it shows that even the web giant believes in this product category. But it doesn’t stop there.
Google is also the one that sets the tone on Android by integrating this or that novelty. However, the Mountain View company is very interested in large screens – whether for foldable smartphones or tablets – and therefore wants to adapt the operating system accordingly. It is with this in mind that Android 12L was born.
However, we have long criticized Android and its applications for their non-optimal adaptations to the tablet display. Google is now showing its desire to change the situation and other Android manufacturers will no doubt be delighted to follow suit.
The tablet in the middle?
Here are all the elements that tend to give the tablet an increasingly important place in the strategies of different brands. Having long been in the shadow of smartphones, slates can now claim to become a good complement. Moreover, they have to play an important role at home to control other connected objects.
This is also the vision shared by Google with its Pixel Tablet: thanks to a special charging base, the device can always be used to perform certain tasks, even when you do not have it in your hands. In such a perspective, we keep the smartphone to take it everywhere with us, but we use the tablet when we are at home.
The tablet therefore has the potential to become a centerpiece in the ecosystems that each brand strives to build.
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