By the end of January 2014, more than 50% of Britons will have access to a tablet, up from 36% in the summer of 2013.
Around 13m tablets were sold across the UK in 2013 according to research from Deloitte, a 50% increase from 2012.
A high demand for tablets at Christmas coupled with growth of the value tablet made the devices a big seller towards the end of last year, with both Tesco and Argos releasing their own touch-screen devices. Amazon’s Kindle Fire was also among the top sellers.
Deloitte predict that smaller tablets like the iPad Mini and Nexus 7 will overtake sales of larger-screened tablets this year, despite the introduction of smaller models only happening in 2012.
Paul Lee, Deloitte’s head of technology, media and telecoms research, said that the base of "compact tablets" would reach 165m worldwide by the end of March, compared to 160m for larger devices.
He said their rise comes at the expense of more expensive personal computers and ‘less versatile portable games consoles’, according to the research.
"Tablets have gained popularity with extraordinary speed, and manufacturers will have to work hard to stay on top of the evolution of the market," Lee said to the Telegraph newspaper.
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"There appear to be more users and use cases for tablets than many had imagined. Getting the balance of form, function and price right will likely be a moving target during 2014, especially at the lower end of the market," he said.
