Telecom Lead India: Average selling price (ASP) for tablets is expected to decline 10.8 percent to $381 this year.
Tablet prices will decline further which will allow vendors to deliver a viable computing experience into the hands of many more people at price points the PC industry has strived to meet for years.
In comparison, the ASP of a PC in 2013 is nearly double that at $635.
Meanwhile, tablet shipments are expected to grow 58.7 percent to 229.3 million units in 2013 against 144.5 million units last year.
Market research agency IDC says tablet shipments will exceed portable PCs this year.
The slumping PC market is expected to see negative growth for the second consecutive year.
Tablets will be surpassing portable PCs in 2013 and total PCs (portables and desktops combined) in 2015.
IDC says PCs will have an important role in this new era of computing, especially among business users.
Though Apple has been at the forefront of the tablet revolution, the current market expansion has been increasingly fueled by low-cost Android devices.
In addition to lower prices, another major shift in the tablet market has occurred around screen sizes.
Apple’s first generation iPad, which included a 9.7-inch display, was perceived by many as the sweet spot for tablets. That is, until 7-inch Android-based tablets began to gain traction in the market.
Apple responded with the iPad mini in the fourth quarter of 2012, and in the space of two quarters the sub-8-inch category exploded to overtake the larger-sized segment in terms of total shipments.
