Deloitte believes that in just 2 years since the launch of the iPad (the progenitor of the modern tablet industry), there are some 7 million tablet owners in the UK. Of these 7 million, 12% own, or have access to more than one tablet.

Smartphones still remain dominant, with one in four UK smartphone owners owning multiple devices. The UK already has some of the highest smartphone ownership rates in the world, with more than half of the UK’s population owning the devices.

"It took several decades for one household to have more than one car, telephone line, radio, or television and ten years for a similar landmark to be reached in the computing and mobile phone markets. Moving to owning more than one tablet is happening at a much faster pace than has been the case with other products and services," said Paul Lee, Deloitte’s director of technology, media and telecommunications research.

"The launch of a diversifying range of tablet devices, with sizes now ranging from 7 inches to 13 inches, will increase the number of people owning several tablets."

Gartner is forecasting tablet sales to reach 118.9m units in 2012, a 98% increase on 2011’s 60 million units. It projects that Apple will hold a 62% marketshare by year end.

Just last month Google announced a new tablet, the Google Nexus 7, as did Microsoft, with its Surface range of tablets – both are attempting to garner market share from Apple.

Forrester Research believes that 760 million tablets will be sold in 2016, a 46% compound annual growth rate.

PCs still sell approximate 2 billion units a year, so the ‘post-PC’ era remains in the distant future.

"We are not in a post-PC era; the vast majority of tablet users remain PC owners and users. Tablets are optimised for viewing and occasionally reviewing; in general they lack the processing power and user interface required for creating content," said Lee.

"Tablets are a "goldilocks" device positioned between more powerful, but less portable, and less durable computers, and more pocketable, but far smaller smartphones."

According to Deloitte’s research, tablets remain predominantly personal devices (83%) with the remaining used for business (2%) or for both work and personal use (15%).

Tablet ownership is also beginning to affect laptop use, with one in five consumers claiming they now hardly use their laptop at all. 29% admitted in the research that they use their laptop less due to tablet usage. Smartphones have taken a backseat for 11% of tablet owners and a quarter (25%) say they now use their smartphone less.

When it comes to apps, tablet owners spend about three times more on apps compared to smartphone owners, downloading about four apps per month and spending about £2.50 a month. Smartphone owners are downloading about two apps and spending about 75p a month.

In terms of how tablets are connected to the Internet, Wi-Fi is the preferred option for consumers. This reflects where tablets are most often used, which is indoors. One in seven (14%) respondents who own a tablet use the mobile network to connect to the Internet.

When connected to the internet, tablet usage mirrors that of PCs. Namely, searching for information accounts for 64% of usage. Email use (63%), visiting news and sports websites (54%) and social networks (51%) are the most popular uses. When offline, tablet owners play games (60%), read (45%), watch TV or films (41%) and listen to music (40%).