Demand for large screen-sized tablets with cellular voice capabilities is surging high in Asia, a new research report claims.
According to the latest Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker report released by IDC, 3.5 million of the 13.8 million 7-inch screens tablets that shipped to Asia during the last three months had voice calling over cellular networks as an option built-in to the device.
IDC said that the demand for large screen tablets with cellular voice capabilities reached the 25 percent mark in the second quarter of this year, up from around 15 percent in Q1 in the Asia/Pacific region, excluding Japan (APeJ).
The research firm claimed tablet shipments in Q2 equalled to more than 60 percent year-on-year growth in unit terms, with all of the voice call-enabled tablets running on Android.
As per IDC, emerging countries like India and Indonesia accounted for almost half of the voice calling enabled tablet shipments which suggests there is huge demand for such tablets in growing Asian markets.
IDC analyst Avinash K. Sundaram in a statement said the shift highlights the sustained interest among emerging market consumers to use a single mobile device for all their needs, for watching movies, soap operas, taking pictures, texting or making calls. He said entry-to-mainstream price bands in most markets also boosts demand for the affordable tablets.
IDC believes that the trend of Android tablets, used as a single converged mobile device in emerging markets offering great value for money, will continue to gather momentum in future as well.
