When you reach for a device, is it your tablet or your laptop? Most of us would say tablet, and research suggests that trend is only going to continue. Canalys research suggests that in 2014, tablets will continue to outpace the PC market, and comprise half of non-smartphone purchases.
The research firm has conducted a study which projects that over 285 million tablets will be sold next year, opposed to 192 million laptops and 98 million desktops. Android will lead the surge, selling about 185 million tablets, according to Canalys. Doing the math, that means Android would have around 65% of the tablet market next year, matching their share of the smartphone market today.
Of course, nothing is expected to change for Android, where Samsung leads the pack. We should also take note that Android tablets are offered at incredibly low price points, so the monetization won’t scale as much as the market does. What does matter is the endgame for Google: users tied into the Play Store.
With tablets like the iPad lineup essentially taking a page from the laptop (which outran desktops) and acting as PC replacements for many, this is a trend we think will continue for a long time, perhaps until the PC is little more than a novelty. Desktops are already barely there, and a quick stop into a Best Buy will show you just how the market is divided and conquered.
