At least three smartphone manufacturers are set to stay in the tablet market in 2014 despite having only found moderate success at best so far. A report by Digitimes suggests that LG, Nokia and Sony Mobile will all offer new tablets next year.
LG will broaden availability of the LG G Pad 8.3 starting this month. Originally launched in South Korea, LG is aiming to have it in 30 countries by the end of the year, including Canada and the U.S.
Giving credence to earlier rumours, Nokia is expected to follow up its first Windows RT tablet, the 10.1-inch Nokia Lumia 2520, with the smaller 8-inch Windows RT Lumia 2020 (codenamed Nokia Illusionist) sometime in the first quarter.
Following the Xperia Tablet Z, Sony Mobile could release a number of tablets in 2014 with an ongoing focus on the higher-end of the market. Unfortunately, there are no additional details about any of these possible tablets.
Other manufacturers, such as Huawei and ZTE, will continue to focus on entry-level and mid-range tablets. With prices dropping below US$100 (witness the US$89 7-inch HP Mesquite), this will be a cutthroat segment.
The report also suggests that some smartphone manufacturers will remain out of the tablet market next year. Among these are the struggling BlackBerry and HTC as well as Motorola which appears set to continue to focus on its resurgent smartphone business.
Source : Digitimes