Federica Laricchia
Research expert covering the global consumer technology industry
Tablet PCs in the UK - statistics & facts
At work, school, or home, today we find tablet computers everywhere – devices thought to fill the gap between smartphones and PCs and able to perform a wide range of tasks in different areas. A tablet personal computer (PC) commonly refers to a mobile device with a mobile operating system (OS) and touchscreen display. Following its launch in 2010, Apple's iPad dramatically changed the global tablet market in terms of technology and consumer expectations, with Apple’s product being the first tablet to achieve significant success amongst consumers. Tablets sit within the wider PC market, a market which in the UK is performing positively in terms of sales. The PC market in the UK reached 5.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, with tablets accounting for 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.
Tablet market and vendors
Although the tablet market size is expected to slightly decrease in the coming years, tablet penetration in the UK is set to grow, reaching over 53 percent through by 2028, with the number of tablet users in the country forecast to reach close to 38 million in the same year. In terms of tablet device vendors across the globe, Apple and Samsung lead the way. This trend is also evident in the UK: these firms account for around 80 percent of the total tablet market in the country, with half of the tablet owners having an Apple iPad.Tablet usage in the UK
In the UK, people use tablets to perform several tasks, such as surfing the internet, playing games, and reading the news. For instance, 47 percent of people aged between 45 and 55 in the country used tablets to go online in 2021. Moreover, roughly a fifth of UK adults played games on tablets, while a similar amount accessed news through tablets.
