According to IDC analysis, the outbreak of the new coronavirus in 2020 has reversed the downward trend of the Chinese tablet market to the largest increase since 2013. At the same time, consumers have a new understanding and experience of the development and progress of tablet computers and technological upgrades in recent years.
Now the use scenarios and frequency of use of tablet computers have been significantly improved compared to before the epidemic. In the next few years, China’s tablet computer market will continue to grow due to the growth in education and entertainment demand, the entry of more industry participants, and the release of more competitive new products. It’s just that the growth rate will slow down as the overall flat-panel market increases.
IDC FutureScape’s top 10 predictions for the tablet market are as follows:
Prediction 1: China’s tablet PC market will maintain growth
China’s tablet market is expected to ship 25.06 million units in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%. The consumer market is expected to grow by 7.2% year-on-year. The commercial market is expected to fall by 4.3% year-on-year. The use of online courses and entertainment caused by the new crown epidemic has made the future market demand for tablet products significantly higher than before the epidemic. The tablet market in 2021 will continue the growth momentum of 2020.
Since 2019, the form of tablet products has begun to change from Slate Tablet (traditional straight tablet) to Detachable Tablet (supporting official keyboard tablet). The market share of detachable is expected to reach 62% in 2021. Whether it is for educational use or productivity tools guided before the epidemic, tablets require more peripheral input accessories. More and more tablets support stylus and keyboard.
Prediction 3: Tablet PC screens continue the development of large screens
It is expected that the current mainstream 10-inch (9-11-inch) tablet computer screen size market share will continue to expand, and the market share will be close to 80% in 2021, and there will be more and more products over 11 inches, and the market share will increase. The screen will be larger and larger. All this will be realized with technologies such as increasing the screen-to-body ratio, full screen, and hollow screen. With the increase in screen size, more products will also support high refresh rate, high resolution and eye protection.
With the gradual popularity of 5G mobile phones, tablets have officially begun to 5G, gradually replacing 4G, and WiFi is still the main network connection method. It is estimated that by 2021, the market share of 5G tablets will grow to 8.1%, while the share of 4G tablets will drop to 15%. At present, 5G tablets still need more application scenarios. Cloud computers and games are currently more common usage scenarios. In the future, 5G tablets are expected to create more application scenarios in the commercial market.
Prediction 5: High computing power and good looks will drive the average price of tablets to continue to rise
In the past two years, with the continuous upgrading of computing power and appearance color materials, the price of tablet computers has been in a state of slow growth. It is expected that the average price of tablets in 2021 will reach RMB 2,433, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%. However, most consumers’ mental affordability and budget for tablet computer prices are usually around 3,000 yuan at most, and 2,000-3,000 yuan is the most concentrated. The price of more than 3,500 yuan will seriously affect sales and become a niche product.
Prediction 6: The student tablet market will be impacted by ordinary tablets
With the impact of the “new crown” epidemic, education has become an important use scenario for tablet computers. More and more ordinary tablet computer manufacturers are cooperating with educational resources, and have begun to launch products with embedded educational resources and equipped with a strict back-end control system. According to IDC China’s quarterly tablet computer market with embedded educational resource model shipments data shows: before Q1 of 2020, ordinary tablet manufacturers did not have any products with educational resources; and after Q3, ordinary tablet computers with educational resources The proportion has increased to 28%, and this proportion will continue to grow in the future. Equipped with educational resources and management and control systems, coupled with the advantages of diversified computing capabilities and usage scenarios, ordinary tablet computers have further intensified the pressure of market competition for student tablet computers.
Prediction 7: The market potential of second-hand tablet PCs to be developed
With the recovery of the tablet computer market, a large number of users will change phones and buy new tablet computers in recent years, and the number of tablet computers each year has exceeded 80 million. At present, there are a large number of second-hand tablets on the market. Although the size cannot be compared with second-hand mobile phones, second-hand tablet computers can be recycled and processed together with second-hand mobile phones, thereby exerting greater value.
Prediction 8: The pattern of chip usage will change
It is expected that in 2021, Apple’s leading advantage of A series chips will be further expanded. Qualcomm and MediaTek will become the chips with the highest share in the Android tablet market. At the same time, the share of Ziguang Zhanrui and Intel will also increase significantly.
Prediction 9: More brands enter the tablet market
With the growth of online education and leisure and entertainment usage scenarios, it is expected that more hardware terminal manufacturers, Internet companies and online education brands will flood the tablet market in 2021. New players will bring new competition and new hope to the market structure and future product development, and stimulate better and more active development of the entire tablet computer market.
Prediction 10: Tablet PCs will pay more attention to the optimization of software construction such as ecological applications and operating systems
As more and more different terminals under the same brand are connected through the application system, multi-screen linkage, parallel world and other functions have made the experience of using the tablet significantly improved compared to before. With the increase in overall users, more developers will develop software specifically for tablets, which will help the tablet software ecosystem become more abundant. At the same time, more manufacturers will also specifically optimize the operating system of the tablet to further improve the experience of using the tablet.
