Nearly 459 million people in the region will use tablets this year
Nearly half the world’s tablet users live in Asia-Pacfic- and more than half of those live in China, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast of tablet audiences around the globe. This year, the tablet population in China will grow a further 22.0% to reach 276.5 million.
That means the tablet audience in China will rival the total US population this year- and surpass it by 2016. By the end of our forecast period, there will be nearly half a billion people in China who use a tablet at least monthly, whether or not they own one themselves.
More than four in 10 internet users in China will be a tablet user this year. That’s the second-highest penetration rate among internet users in Asia-Pacific; in Australia, 59.5% will be tablet users.
Australia also has the highest penetration as a share of the total population, followed by Japan, with China coming in third.
India, where just 3.5% of the population and 16.0% of internet users will use a tablet this year, has the second-largest tablet population in Asia-Pacific and the third-largest in the world, thanks to its large population base. Japan’s tablet audience is slightly larger than Indonesia’s, and their places will be flipped by 2017.
Indonesia is home to the highest tablet audience growth rate in the region, at 38.3% this year, compared with a regional average of 24.0%. India, at 30.8%, is also growing faster than average. Growth is slowest in Australia and South Korea, where it will drop to single-digit rates in 2016. Double-digit growth is expected to persist, by contrast, through at least 2019 in China and India.
eMarketer’s forecasts and estimates are based on an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from research firms, government agencies, media firms and public companies, plus interviews with top executives at publishers, ad buyers and agencies. Data is weighted based on methodology and soundness. Each eMarketer forecast fits within the larger matrix of all its forecasts, with the same assumptions and general framework used to project figures in a wide variety of areas. Regular re-evaluation of available data means the forecasts reflect the latest business developments, technology trends and economic changes.
