The next tablet trend? 8-inch screens

An analyst is predicting that 8-inch, not 7- or 10-inch, tablets will be the most popular size this

year.

NPD Display Search claims that Lenovo, Dell, Acer and Asus are all gearing up to produce 8-

inch Android-based tablets and that the new form factor could account for between 5-10 percent

of the total PC market by the end of 2013.

The research firm also notes that more and more companies are moving into tablet production

to offset the impacts of falling PC sales and that, as a result, 256.5 million of the devices are

expected to ship this year, up from 153.6 million in 2012.

“These new tablet PCs are part of a trend in the tablet PC market that is balancing between

differentiation between increasingly larger smartphones and an expansion of the tablet PC

opportunity to further drive adoption,’ says senior analyst Richard Shim, in a blog post

published on June 18.

Although the research is focused on Android devices, Microsoft’s decision to make its Office

software free of charge for use on tablets with a sub-10-inch display will also have played a part

in many companies’ decision to investigate a mid-sized device.

However, in the same post, Shim states that he believes that the main driving force behind the

shift up to an 8- from a 7-inch-screen form factor is due to Apple. “Apple’s iPad mini with its

7.9-inch display has captured a significant share of the market, despite its starting price of $329.

Brands are hoping to expand this “middle class,” gaining some share and slightly better margins

than 7-inch tablet PCs,” he notes.

By aping Apple’s lead, 7-inch tablets, currently the most popular form factor in terms of sales,

will come to be viewed as entry-level devices and this change will no doubt fuel the price war

that many tech industry experts have been predicting. Smaller tablets with excellent specs are

expected to fall below $150 before the end of 2013.

It’s also worth pointing out that Apple’s decision to go with 7.9-inches rather than a 7-inch

display was based on usability, not differentiation. The majority of high-performance 7-inch

tablets, such as the Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus-7 are set up for optimal video playback with

the correct 16:9 aspect ratio.

However, in tests, Apple found that by building a tablet for video, the screen was less effective

for viewing web content, game play and productivity. By increasing the screen size and using a

4:3 aspect ratio browsing is closer to the experience of using a laptop or notebook computer

while videos can be shown at the correct aspect ratio via letterboxing (i.e., black lines at the

top and bottom of the display).