Tablets will outsell PCs this year suggests Google


Having launched the new Google Nexus 7, Google has suggested that global tablet sales will exceed those achieved by the PC market for the first time later this year.


Suggesting that tablets will emulate the rapid growth achieved by their smaller, smartphone siblings, Google has hinted that the tablet market could be on the verge of surpassing the long-established PC market in terms of global unit sales for the first time as the industry becomes increasingly portable.


Smartphones have exploded in growth and tablets are following the same trend,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s Senior Vice President of Chrome and Apps said at the company’s US based launch event. “We at Google are incredible excited by this trend and we are embracing it.”


He added: “By the end of 2013, consumers are going to buy more tablets every year than personal computers. This is a pretty amazing trend in computing.”


Further blowing the company’s own trumpet and brushing off the former dominance of Apple with the iPad, Pichai stated: “At the end of 2012 we were approaching 10 million Android tablet activations. The curve has changed since then and we are now at over 70 million Android tablet activations.”


He went on to add: “By our accounts 1 in 2 tablets sold worldwide in 2013 is based on Android. A year ago we launched Nexus 7. It was one of the things which really pushed Android tablets. The Nexus 7 has accounted for greater than 10 per cent of all Android tablets sold.”


Looking to further capitalise on this tablet success, Google has officially announced its second-generation Google Nexus 7, with the revised edition benefitting from a number of improvements, including Android 4.3.


Running a 7-inch Full HD display, the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS powered new Google Nexus 7 sees a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU feature alongside 2GB of RAM and the option of 16GB and 32GB storage capacities.


With a 5-megapixel rear-mounted snapper paired with a second, 1.9-megapixel camera up front, the new Google Nexus 7 adds NFC, 4G connectivity options, a slimmer, lighter body and dual stereo speakers.


Read More: New Google Nexus 7 launched running Android 4.3