Sales of tablets grew 267 percent in the UK between 2011 and to 2012.
With more affordable price points, tablets experienced a 23 percent year-on-year fall in price in 2012, supporting the surge in consumer interest.
In December alone, more tablets were sold in the UK than notebooks during the whole of Q4 2012, according to GfK’s retail tracked channels.
The increase in hardware sales has also spurred significant growth in tablet accessories such as protective cases. Tablet cases saw volume sales up 144 percent, representing almost 48 percent of the total laptop bag market value – up 25.8 percent from 2011.
Notebook skins, although previously a growth product, experienced a drop in value sales of 28.7 percent between 2011 and 2012.
Comments Robyn Tovey, GfK account manager: “It seems likely media tablet sales will continue to grow in 2013 as the availability of lower priced devices has made buying a tablet a more viable purchase for many consumers. Likewise, tablet cases could be expected to be the key selling product of the luggage market this year.”
Research group Context recently announced the top selling sub-£200 tablets in the UK. They were as follows:
1. BlackBerry Playbook 20%/27%
2. Nexus 7 13%/17%
3. Galaxy Tab 2 10.1" 11%/14%
4. Galaxy Tab 2 7.0" 8%/10%
5. Galaxy Note 10.1" 6%/7%
