Dubai: The tablet market in the UAE is expected to grow by more than 16 per cent in 2014 to 1.7 million units compared to 1.46 million units in 2013.
“The percentage growth in tablets is slowing down but will continue to grow,” Fouad R. Charakla, research manager at International Data Corporation (IDC), told Gulf News in an exclusive interview
In 2013, the market more than doubled from 619,707 units in 2012.
He said the growth is mainly coming in from consumer segment. Growth is going to come from education sector, hospitality, aviation, banking and telcos.
“Laptop with detachable keyboards is set to see an increase. Tablets will overtake laptops in first quarter of 2014. Tablets will overtake all form factors in 2016,” he said.
Tablets will screen sizes between 7 and 8 inches are driving the demand and occupies more than 50 per cent of the overall tablet sales.
“Tourism is another key contributor to growth. It is still a captive market in UAE compared to PCs. In PCs, re-export market is huge,” he said.
In the fourth quarter, the UAE market will experience a year-on-year growth of more than 81 per cent to 396,677 units.
Although Apple’s iOS and Windows OS were contributors to this growth, the major contribution came without a doubt from the Android operating system.
In the UAE, Apple still leads the market followed by Samsung. But in the MEA, Samsung has overtaken Apple in the third quarter of 2013.
“Android operating system will be a major factor behind the huge sales in 2014 while Windows will be growing the fastest as more businesses are adopting tablets in the work environment,” said Charakla.
