Laplets, also known as 2-in-1 PCs combines elements of both laptops and tablets. Both Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book are considered laplets for obvious reasons. When laplets were introduced few years ago, the tablets (iPads and Android tablets) were way ahead in terms of sales numbers. But based on recent numbers, this trend has been changing – tablet sales growth has slowed down to a halt and there’s even signs that it is declining. Desktop PCs aren’t doing any better – PC sales have been declining for years and so has the conventional Windows laptop sales. Even the mighty Windows 10 is showing a declining after a strong start.
So, how are laplets fairing vs other established competitors in terms of sales?
1010data has published some data on this subject and shows that laplets are doing incredibly well this year. According to their data, Apple iPad is still leading the segment at 32.5% market share with the general declining trend. The biggest gainer is the Surface Book which went up from 16% to 25% – this is a huge increase and if it keeps this up, the Surface Book will overtake the iPad sales!
Are you surprised with this result? Personally, I’m not. I do own an Android tablet but it doesn’t get much use. For productivity use, I need a fully blown Windows 10 device as Android (and iOS) doesn’t have all the productivity apps I need. For casual work or entertainment purpose, the phone works just fine with its 5-inch display. The Android tablet is mainly used as a eBook reader as phone screens are too small and Windows tablets are too heavy and bulky to carry around for quick trips. For productivity use, my current main device is the Dell XPS 15 but the Surface Pro 4 is almost good enough and I will be adding an external monitor shortly so that will take care of the screen size issue.
My future plan will probably include owning a phone and either a model from Surface Pro lineup or Surface Book with a large external monitor in my office.
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Kent Beck is an American software engineer and the creator of extreme programming, a software development methodology that eschews rigid formal specifications for a collaborative and iterative design process. Wikipedia
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