Samsung’s Newest Tablet Offers Thinner Bezel, Rear and Front Camera

The release of the company’s latest tablet device follows the much-hyped launch of another product in the Galaxy family, the Galaxy S 4 smartphone. The handset features a larger, richer display than the Galaxy S III — 5 inches and a resolution of 1,080 by 1920 — as well as an eight-core processor and a 13-megapixel camera.

The household penetration rate of newest tablets is up 17 percent year over year, according to the research study “A Tale of Two Techs — Smartphone and Tablet Adoption and Usage,” conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association. Among tablet owners, 92 percent browse the Web and 83 percent use their tablets to check email, the report found.

Global tablet shipments reached 40.6 million units in the first quarter of 2013, with Google’s Android platform securing an impressive 43 percent global share, while Apple iOS devices, including the iPad and the iPad Mini, maintained their strong market leadership, accounting for nearly half (48 percent) of latest android tablet shipped, according to the latest report from IT research firm Strategy Analytics…

That's where the Strategy Analytics data enters the equation. The firm found that 3 million Windows 8 tablets were sold in the first three months of 2013, and that the OS commanded 7.5% of the tablet market. This number is by no means a home run; Apple sold 19.5 million iPads during the same period, and Android is poised to surpass Apple for the industry's overall lead. But based on separate estimates released in March by market watchers Net Applications and StatCounter, Win8's 7.5% share of the tablet space is around double its overall market penetration.dfD2FSS

Windows 8 defenders have argued that the Q88 Tablet is best enjoyed on touch-enabled devices. With PC sales down, however, many Win8 licenses have been installed, to lackluster effect, on previous-generation hardware. That the OS's tablet momentum evidently outpaces its overall growth by such a wide margin reasserts this notion. As a Windows 7 replacement, in other words, Microsoft's newest offering hasn't performed well. But as a foray into the tablet space, Windows 8 has actually fared decently.

There are many reasons to expect this growth will continue. One is Windows 8.1, a forthcoming update, previously code named Windows Blue, that is expected to improve many of the UI's most divisive elements, including potentially reinstating the Start button and more smoothly integrating its traditional desktop environment with its tactile-themed Live Tiles UI.

Small tablets are another avenue for sustained growth. Win8's current tablet share has been amassed without an entrant in the industry's fastest-growing race: the market for small, cheapest tablet, currently dominated by the iPad Mini, Nexus 7 and similar models. But Microsoft has acknowledged, after months of rumors, that 8-inch Windows 8 tablets are coming. Outgoing Intel CEO Paul Otellini suggested these new products will be priced aggressively. Between Windows Blue and a slew of new devices, the platform should only expand its reach into the mobile arena. The question is, by how much?