Approximately 1.5m tablets were sold within the UK during Q1, 2013, accounting for 57.2 per cent of the sales volume of the entire laptop market, and 44.1 of the worth. That’s in keeping with the result of exclusive research conducted for Mobile Marketing by market research agency GfK.

The study, the primary in an ordinary quarterly series, reveals that sales volume for tablets saw a year-on-year increase of 163 per cent in Q1, driving an 87 per cent increase in sales value. The figures have actually dropped on 1 / 4-on-quarter basis, down 50.3 per cent in volume, and 50.8 per cent in value, from Q4, 2012, as a result of effect of Christmas shopping.

 The rise in tablets sales is usually pushing sales of wireless keyboards – volume and cost up by 13 per cent and 26.1 per cent respectively year-on-year during Q1 – as consumers buy separate keyboards to enrich their tablets, indicating the devices are getting used in some way kind of like laptops. 

That’s further reflected within the effect tablet sales are having on PCs – with laptop sales volumes declining by nine per cent, and desktop sales by 13.6 per cent.

Smartphones

In Q1, smartphones accounted for 70 per cent of the quantity of the entire UK handset market, with  around 4m devices sold in the course of the quarter. That’s a growth of 15 per cent in sales volume year-on-year. Once more, sales dipped from Q4, dropping 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter.