14 DAY TRIAL // The main reason tablets have been recorded as having substantially increased in market shipments is the fact that the Apple iPad has been selling by the thousands, but things will visibly progress for other models starting next year.
One would think that the tablet industry is already growing fast enough, but further acceleration seems to be expected for the coming years.
In fact, while the Apple iPad has been driving sales upward ever since its appearance, it will hardly be the only rapidly-selling device of this sort starting in 2012.
One might even say that the time of its overwhelming advantage is already at an end, with second-generation Android (and other) slates already our or inbound.
With some tablets already distinguished, upcoming newcomers and successors should further boost demand and shipment levels even before the ongoing year is out.
Nevertheless, it is in 2012 that certain factions foresee a massive boost to sales, of well over 100% to be exact.
While a doubling would already be more than impressive, the folks over at Digitimes expect the growth percentage to be of 134% on year.
No doubt the coming of new ARM platforms (Qualcomm, NVIDIA Tegra Kal-El, etc.) is a factor that will contribute to this, what with fresh slate models guaranteed to be brought forth soon after.
Tegra 3 will arrive this October (2011) and, among other things, will possess four cores and five times the 3D graphics prowess of Tegra 2 (complete with resolutions of 2560 x 1600). ASUS's Eee Pad Transformer 2 is designed with it.
Another factor is the impending arrival of the newest version of the Android OS, called Ice Cream Sandwich.
All in all, with iPad demand nearing saturation, all other slates, or at least those that succeed in standing out, performance- and price-wise, have a fairly bright future ahead of them.