We’ve all read about Steve Jobs stating that the 7″ tablet is dead on arrival. And judging by how well the 7″ tablet has been doing in comparison to its larger sized competition – it’s safe to say he’s quite right. And now, according to some new statistics and predictions by a research department WitsView under TrendForce, 88.6% of global tablet shipments this year will be in two sizes: 9.7″ and 10.1″.
WitsView suggest that the larger tablets will take up about 85% of the market share in the coming years, though there will always be a market for the 7″ tablet due to its cheaper price and smaller size. Just like how there will always be low-end phones in addition to high-end models, the cheaper and smaller 7″ tablets will serve as a bridge between 5″ phones and 10″ tablets. While the smaller tablet only has about 8.3% of the market share this year, they predict it will climb to 10.4% in 2012 and 12.3% in 2013. Not very promising numbers, but I guess it should be enough for vendors who’d like to fill a niche market.
I guess people don’t really mind lugging around larger 10″-sized tablets as opposed to 7″ variants. Though it makes you wonder what the figures would be like today if Apple had released a 7″ iPad instead.
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