Tablet growth set to continue

The popularity of tablet devices continued to grow last year, with latest figures from Futuresource Consulting revealing that a record 15.5 million units shipped in the third quarter 2011, 4.5 million more than during the same period 2010.

Shipments to Europe reached 4.2 million during the quarter, which represented 300% growth year-on-year. The US had 7.1 million shipment, over 70% of which were Apple devices. Futuresource noted that Samsung, HP and Acer were beginning to gain traction. It said that growth in tablet sales was expected to continue until at least 2015.