For the first time, the majority of tablet owners in the UK are women, with the share of female owners increasing by 9 percentage points in the past year, YouGov’s latest Tablet Tracker reports.
The figures for Q2 2013 show that females own 52% of the tablets in the UK, up from 43% in Q2 2012. In the same period the share of tablets owned by men has fallen from 57% to 48%. YouGov’s data shows that the increase in female ownership primarily comes from older Apple devices (iPad 1 and 2) as well as the iPad Mini. The Tablet Tracker shows that women own 60% of iPad 1s and 2s and 58% of iPad Minis.
YouGov’s data also indicates a surge in the number of 18-34 year olds owning tablets with the group growing by seven percentage points over the past year. In Q2 2012, the under-35s made up 19% of the market but this grew to 26% by Q2 2013. The only age group that has seen a decline in share over the past year is the over-55s, whose proportion of ownership has fallen from 42% to 31%. The more even distribution of ownership across age groups indicates that the UK tablet market is becoming more mainstream.
The Tablet Tracker research finds that 22% of the adult population now own a tablet, up from 18% last quarter. Furthermore, 26% of the UK households own a tablet. The growth in ownership looks set to continue with close to a fifth (19%) of non-tablet owners identified as “hot prospects” to obtain one of the devices in the future. YouGov finds that over a quarter (27%) of these prospects are aged 18-44 and more than a third (34%) are female.
John Gilbert, Lead Director at YouGov Technology & Telecoms, says: “The early adopters of tablets have typically been affluent males. As they buy the latest models, they have placed their old devices on to the secondary market or give them to other members of their household. A growing number of females and under-35s own older tablets, such as the iPad 1 and 2 while affluent males have the more recent iPad 3 and 4 and Samsung devices. Add to this the fact that it is women and young people driving the popularity of iPad Mini in the UK and it is clear where the surge in tablet ownership among females and under-35s comes from.”
