Juniper Research: Hybrid Tablets’ Popularity on the Rise

If you don’t have a hybrid tablet device already, you can expect to see quite a bit more of them in the coming years, according to the latest from Juniper Research. The research firm announced that it expects global hybrid tablet shipments to jump to nearly 50 million units by 2018. In comparison, estimated hybrid tablet sales in 2013 numbered somewhere around 9.3 million units.

Juniper noted the tablet market increasingly is becoming more diverse, as companies such as Samsung, Apple (APPL), and Microsoft (MSFT) duke it out to give competitors bigger and better devices. Hybrid tablets are normally classified as those devices that are able to achieved additional functionality through accessories (take Ultrabook, for example, or the Galaxy Pro Tab with its own mouse and keyboard).

According to the study, the small-scale evolution of the hybrid tablet market is beginning to attract a niche demographic of business users and gamers looking for a little extra functionality the typical consumer might not need. And as we all know, if anyone is willing to shell out the extra cash for a fancy new device, its gamers and enterprise users.

Juniper Research also found that decreasing prices for mainstream tablets is helping to boost sales for schools and government users looking to integrate the devices into their daily lives. Many U.S. schools have begun utilizing tablets to engage students in typically dry subjects such as math, and countries such as India and Thailand have taken to giving each student a free tablet to help them with their studies.

Given the rapid growth of the tablet industry over the past few years, it makes sense that certain consumers are going to want devices that make them stand out from the crowd. The gaming community is particularly rabid when it comes to the latest and greatest tech, making the idea of souped-up tablets a no brainer for the hardcore crowd. And with the prominence of BYOD policies in the workplace, you can be sure that IT users would perk up their ears at the thought of tablets that can make their jobs just a little easier.