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Over the last five years, tablets have been fading from widespread use despite their increasing power and usefulness. Ten years earlier, surviving a direct attack by heavily subsidized media tablets (Amazon’s Kindles), the product category continues to be under threat. Current threats feature substitutes. As larger smartphones reach broader market acceptance, any benefit from having a larger screen is relatively weakened. As lighter instant-on laptops, convertibles, and 2-in-1s grow into favor, any perception of tablets being less-than PCs becomes a roadblock.
Tablets are being used similarly to home PCs, typically enjoyed for passive personal activities, such as watching movies or browsing the Internet. Tablet users, however, have not fully embraced tablets as often as home PCs, still using them for many activities such as creating personal graphics or collaborating on personal files. There are very few activities unique to tablets that aren’t being used on home PCs – reading a book or taking pictures – each of which are themselves not widespread activities. In fact, many people taking photos with a tablet are mocked or derided.
Apple continues to reign as the champion of tablets, dominating most markets in tandem with its iPhone market share. iPads don’t require an iPhone to function, although there is a strong association. Apple iPhone users have a higher percentage of iPad use, and simultaneously, Android smartphone users have a lower iPad share.
Samsung, the non-Apple smartphone market leader, has managed to claim and defend the number two share of the installed base in many countries. Samsung’s tablets have fared best among Android smartphone users looking to enjoy any ecosystem benefits.
Apple has continued to bolster its services to encourage the iPad as a mainstay of any Apple fan’s collection. Fitness+ and Arcade gaming work much better with an iPad than on an iPhone, if for no other reason than having a larger display. Designating an iPad as a home automation hub helps with HomeKit and HomePods. So far, market reception of these specific services has not been mainstream. Collectively, however, each incremental offering helps build reasons for Apple’s customers to stay within the fold. The Google Android ecosystem has similar dynamics, also striving to keep its users within its family.
Cellular tablets have not fared well, although neither have laptops integrated with cellular wireless. Carrier support has not helped iPads as much as they helped with smartphones. Although Apple offers iPads with integrated LTE/4G cellular connections, carriers have primarily promoted cellular tablets as loss leaders to retain postpaid smartphone subscriptions.
Looking ahead, the opportunities for tablets are four-fold: a replacement market and three market segments: vertical markets, tablet-first users, and device collectors.
The average age of the active tablet installed base is younger than ever, reflecting the market’s willingness to replace their older tablets. Coupled with a shrinking penetration rate, this indicates a replacement market.
Vertical markets such as education are a longtime favorite for Apple and teachers alike. However, in education, Apple iPads are experiencing strong competition against Google Chromebooks.
Tablet-first means using a tablet as your primary connected device. Tablet-first has represented less than 10% of the market and is likely to remain that small. However, this segment is best seen as an onramp for newly-connected adults. As market entrants look for their first connected device for basic activities such as email, schoolwork, and online banking, tablets are an excellent entre.
Device collectors – those that actively use many connected devices of varied types – are a small and persistent segment.
Purchase plans for tablets are moderately vigorous, although at only half the rates of plans for PCs and smartphones.
Between tablet’s increasing functionality and more widely available wireless connections, it’s plausible to consider that users would choose tablets as their primary device – the one they use most of the time. However, that has not happened. Online adults using a tablet as their primary device range between 1% in India to 9% in the UK. Even use as either a primary or secondary device is insubstantial. Among online adults in India, Japan, and China, the rate is less than 10%. It’s conceivable that primary tablet use could increase with some combination of usage that involves a 4G/5G/LTE cellular tablet being used instead of a smartphone as one’s primary device. However, this seems unlikely any time soon since users rely so strongly on their smartphones.
Chart: TUP_doc_2021_0406_devi Tablets as primary or secondary device
Other devices have pressured tablets. While the penetration of mobile PCs has increased or remained flat, tablet penetration has declined. Meanwhile, the penetration of smartphones has continued to rise.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0404_form Shifting choice of connected devices
The current mean age of tablets in the US is just over two years. At 2.3 years, tablet age is slightly down from 2017 when it was 2.4. Users in Germany and the UK have been keeping their tablets longer than Americans while also using never tablets than three years earlier.
From: TUP_doc_2020_1017_age_ Age of actively used tablets
Households with three people have a higher tablet use rate than those with only one or two persons. Those with four or more people have even higher rates. This size-associated penetration is positive and accurate in the US, Germany, and the UK. During the last five year’s decline in tablet penetration, it is not as if more broadly penetrated large households have remained a mainstay.
From: TUP_doc_2021_1107_tabl Tablet use by household size
Game-playing is notable, although incidental, among the passive activities popular with tablets. Tablets aren’t competing with or comparable to the highest-performance gaming PCs and instead are used for casual gaming.
From: TUP_doc_2020_1124_tabl Tablet game playing by household size
There have been many widely publicized volume sales of tablets into schools and other educational organizations. However, among the general population that is TUP’s study universe, we do not find broad use of tablets for educational activities. Although a direct survey of K-12 teachers and students would show different results, if educational use were more substantial, we would expect at least broader use of tablets for education than around one in ten tablets.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0402_educ Tablets used for educational activities
Tablets are not the only devices being used – by a long shot. From the active collection of PCs, mobile phones, tablets, and game consoles, tablets only make up 10% of devices. Around half of tablets are being used by adults actively using five or more devices, a similar share using devices of any type. However, tablets are hardly being used by any adults using only one or two connected devices.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0330_devi Connected Devices by Type
People are using tablets more intensively, even while fewer people are using them. Among those using tablets, activity levels have increased, as shown by the average number of hours they use tablets.
From: TUP_doc_2020_1024_aver Average hours using a tablet
Tablets are well enjoyed for a wide variety of activities. Many of the top activities are passive – such as browsing the Internet, shopping, watching videos or movies, checking sports scores, or reading news.
From: TUP_doc_2021_1017_top Top tablet activities by country
To see how tablets compare to home PCs, we looked into users that have both. We then compared the activities which have the highest use on each platform. Among users with both home PCs and tablets, several top activities are similar across each type of device: Internet browsing, checking/sending personal email, and watching videos/movies. There’s a separate group of more home PC-centric activities and little-used on tablets: creating personal graphics/presentations, collaborating on personal files, and searching on personal finance. Conversely, only two activities stand out for being more tablet-centric: reading a book and taking pictures.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0405_acti Preference for tablet or home PC for activities
Looking specifically into activities that involve creativity shows that tablets are only being used marginally for creative activities. Among eight creativity activities included on the TUP questionnaire, only the general activity “personal creativity” stands out from the others. Collectively, around one in four tablet users regularly do any of the selected activities.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0403_crea Broad creativity with tablets
Tablets are only nominally used as a singular device for communication – whether voice or written, personal or work-related. Only personal group meetings – such as having group Facetime or Zoom calls – capture over 5% of online adults across the US, UK, Germany, and Japan. While Smartphones are the device of choice for most users, users juggle multiple devices: smartphones, PCs, or tablets for most types of communication.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0312_comm Device type used most often for communication
As mobile as tablets are, they’re mostly used at home. This has been increasingly the case well before the pandemic. Five years ago, tablets were in measurable use in workplaces at public locations such as cybercafés. However, usage has steadily declined since then such that homes are effectively the last remaining location for regular tablet use.
From: TUP_doc_2020_1129_the_ The mobility of tablets
Apple iPads dominate the tablet market. Non-Apple tablets are lead by Samsung and hardly any other brand.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0406_bran Tablet installed base by brand and country
Apple’s iPads have declined in use in the US, just as overall tablet penetration has waned. Currently, one in five online American adults use an Apple iPad, down from 28% in 2016. Apple has managed to retain a relatively steady share of Germany and British online adults.
From: TUP_doc_2020_1121_acti Active iPad use by country and year
Tablets are most commonly the third type of device in user’s mobile device collections – being used by users of both notebooks and smartphones. The most widely-used two-device combination is a smartphone and tablet. However, it is not a large segment, being used by just over one in five online American adults. Instead, tablets are found chiefly among users actively using three types of mobile devices.
From: TUP_doc_2020_1212_mobi Mobility for all ages
Apple’s iPad has its highest share among Apple’s existing customers – those using either an iPhone or Mac. Around two-thirds of iPad users use an iPhone across the US, Germany, UK, and Japan. This share is substantially higher than among the general online population. Similarly, nearly twice the percentage of iPad users use a Mac than among the general online population.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0329_appl Mac and iPhone market penetration among iPad users
Apple’s iPad share is not substantially different by age group in the US. It is somewhat skewed towards younger adults in the UK, Germany, and Japan.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0328_tabl Tablet OS by age generation
There is a positive association between the use of an iPad and an iPhone, just as there is between a non-Apple tablet and an Android smartphone. Online adults that use an Android smartphone are twice as likely to be using a non-Apple tablet than using an Apple iPad. Even more powerfully, users of an iPhone are around four times as likely to be using an iPad than a non-Apple tablet.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0108_tabl Tablets dissolving into a split market
Tablets are on tech buyer’s minds, especially employees working from home. However, tablets are not at the top of their list. Looking ahead, purchase plans are stronger for laptop PCs and smartphones than for tablets.
From: TUP_doc_2021_0211_purc Purchase plans among employees working only from home
Are Apple’s Macs and iPhones more deeply penetrated among users of iPads? This MetaFAQs details the market penetration of Apple Macs and iPhones among Apple iPad users and all online adults in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan.
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual.
Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.
On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.
TUP Lenses: Tablets, Devices, Technology Ecosystems
Tags: Tablets, Apple, Google, Android, iPad, iPhone, Smartphones, Mac, PCs, Ecosystems
Are iPads more deeply penetrated among younger or older adults? How have Android tablets fared among older versus younger adults? This MetaFAQs details the market penetration of Apple iPads and Android tablets by generational age groups of online adults in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan.
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual.
Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.
On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.
TUP Lenses: Tablets, Devices, User Profile
Tags: Tablets, Apple, Google, Android, iPad, Age Groups, Millennials, Generations, GenX, GenZ, Boomers, Baby Boomers
Online adults use a collection of connected devices from smartphones and PCs to tablets, and only one is their primary device. This MetaFAQs reports on the share of online adults that use a tablet as their primary device in the US, Germany, UK, Japan, China, and India. It also reports on the share that use a tablet as either their primary or secondary device.
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual.
Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.
On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.
TUP Lenses: Tablets, Devices, User Profile
Tags: Tablets, Apple, iPad, Primacy, Android, Android tablets
How many people are actively using tablets? Is there a difference by household size? This MetaFAQs reports on the active installed base of tablets in the US, UK, and Germany from 2016 through 2020.
Continue reading “Tablet use by household size [MetaFAQs]”How actively used are tablets? What is the mean number of hours they are used during a week? This MetaFAQs reports on the average (mean) number of hours using a tablet among online adults in the US, the UK, and Germany for 2018 through 2020.
Continue reading “Average hours using a tablet [MetaFAQs]”Vinyl turntables?! Windows XP?! Basic cell phones?!
Is it true that users of older technology are uninterested in new technology? We tested that hypothesis using several indicators, and found that this stereotype is partly true, and partly not true. We’ve found an interesting group that spans the old and the new, and who are distinct from those who match the laggard stereotype.
Users of older technology are a substantial part of the marketplace. While some slog along with what they have, others eagerly anticipate and even create the future. More pedestrian ones hold on to what they have because they aren’t seeing the value in new technology products and services, or don’t have the means or motivation to do so.
Based on our most research results, from the MetaFacts Technology User Profile (TUP) 2018 wave, 18% of online adults globally use a basic feature phone and 4% use a turntable to play vinyl records. This is based on our balanced survey of 14,273 adults actively online using any PC, mobile phone, tablet, or game console.
Many types of older products are also in everyday use. One in eight (12%) of the primary PC being used by adults was acquired in 2013, two years before Windows 10 was released to the public. One in twelve online adults (8%) are using a printer as old, and one in sixteen (6%) are using a tablet also from 2013 or earlier.
Old-school isn’t necessarily old, as vinyl record turntables have toyed with a resurgence over the last decade. They’ve recently withered into usage by only one in twenty-five (4%) online adults.
However, this small and stalwart group has substantially broader and more ambitious technology purchase plans than most online adults, and certainly more than those who simply hang on to old PCs, tablets, or printers.
Turntable users are 3.5 times as likely, or more, to be planning to purchase a 3D printer, home projector, or portable Wi-Fi hotspot. They also stand out for their strong interest in Google Android/Chrome devices – whether a Chromebook, Chrome desktop, or a Wi-Fi Android tablet. They also have the highest intentions to purchase an Apple iPod Touch, the almost-iPhone quietly targeted as a music-playing or social communication device.
These same technology products have lured the interest of another group – basic feature phone users – although to a lesser extent. These simple cellphone users have above-average intentions for each of these same products.
Do these mean that the future for 3D printers and Chromebooks is only among these small segments? Not necessarily. It means that innovation and openness attract other segments besides the newest-technology crowd.
In fact, the desires and intentions of these music-loving, vinyl-spinning innovation and novelty seekers run circles around the average online adult.
TUPdates feature analysis of current or essential technology topics. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual. TUPdates may also include results from previous waves of TUP.
Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.
On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.
Among voice assistant users, Apple AirPods have the most recent use of a listening device, with 78% having used it on the day we surveyed them. This high active-usage rate is closely followed by Apple notebooks or desktop Macs.
Android smartphones rank last for this most-recent-use measure, although rank 1st for having been used within the prior week.
This is based on the MetaFacts Voice User Profile survey conducted in February 2018. This survey was conducted in late February shortly after the release of the Apple HomePod, so too soon to measure the impact of Apple’s new smart speaker on the marketplace.
We’re in a time of experimentation, as technology users are finding their voice. The novelty of voice-control is still fresh, and it remains to be seen whether Voice Assistants will be regularly used by more than a few tech enthusiasts.
Voice Assistant use has reached a greater share of the public’s attention, especially following Amazon’s aggressive push into Smart Speakers and enabling Alexa across a broader range of devices. Similarly, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Assistant, and Samsung Bixby have garnered renewed attention, and are slowly starting to come into everyday use.
Measuring recency of use is an important indicator of true usage levels. It’s one thing for consumers to play with the features of their new technology devices. It’s another thing for them to incorporate something like Voice Assistant use throughout their day.
The MetaFacts Voice User Profile includes other related analysis, including:
The information in this MetaFAQs is based on a survey of 525 online adults during February 2018 as part of the MetaFacts Voice User Profile. The study universe included active Voice Assistant users, former Voice Assistant users, as well as consumers who have never used a Voice Assistant.
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual.
Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.
On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.
Many home PCs arrive wrapped with a bow, having been a gift from some well-meaning friend or family member. In our most recent wave of TUP/Technology User Profile (2017 US), we found that 11% of recently acquired (2016 or 2017) home PCs were acquired as a gift.
Many of the gift Home PCs came with more than wrapping, with a higher-than-average share bundled with a scanner, monitor/display, and printer. It stands to reason that these generous donors are including their used scanners, monitors, and printers.