Tablet PCs are outselling
netbooks by nearly two to one as they continue to be the must-have gadget for most tech-savvy consumers.
New figures from ABI Research reveal that some 13.6 million
tablets were sold during the summer, compared to 7.3 million mini-laptops, while
tablet sales have doubled since the start of the year, largely driven by the launch of the
iPad 2 in March. In fact Apple's
iPad devices currently account for over two-thirds (68 per cent) of all tablets sold worldwide.
According to the ABI data,
Android tablets such as the
Motorola Xoom and
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and other iPad-rivalling devices like the
BlackBerry PlayBook have proved very popular in 2011 but are still some way off matching the success of Apple's iconic machines.
The market research firm believes tablets will continue to increase their share of the global
laptop market over the next twelve month, with tablet sales figures forecast to top 60 million in 2012.
As far as netbooks are concerned, ABI says they are still popular in developing countries but are no longer favoured by consumers in Western Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea.