As we see more and more 8-inch or under tablets produced for all sorts of demographics, the overall demand for those tablets will grow in the coming years. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the 2013 forecast for the worldwide tablet market has increased to 190.9 million units, which is up from its previous 172.4 million units. In fact, research analyst Jitesh Ubrani believes that “one in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size. And in terms of shipments, we expect smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond” .
Naturally Android manufacturers were quick to realize the unique niche market and are currently leading the way in terms of overall market share compared to competitors. The IDC believes that Android-based tablets will reach a peak market share of 48.8% for 2013, followed by Apple at 46% and Windows RT-based tablets after that. Of course as the years go by, both Android and Apple-based tablets will see their market shares drop slightly to 46% and 43.5% in 2017, respectively; while Windows-based tablets are expected to grow to 7.4% in 2017 which is significant and all– but probably not going to worry too many people very much.
source: IDC
Come comment on this article: Smaller tablets becoming all the rage and expected to grow worldwide, so sez the IDC