Did the tablet die or just win?
I'm Brian Cooley from CNet in search of the next big thing.
Tablet sales have been shrinking for some time.
In the tech biz, that's a death nail.
Even Apple's iPad line, basically synonymous with the category, has been on a lengthy sales slide that certainly wasn't tapered off in the most recent results, down another 20% in volume.
In fact, laptops and tablets are becoming the new battlefield.
This is a shift as opposed to a complete retreat.
Notice how laptops are becoming more like tablets with detachable keyboards for example, and often changing from a desktop style interface to a touch style one when you do the attachment or detachment.
You also find a lot of laptops now that emphasize their flexibility, like what Lenovo does with their Yoga line.
On other other hand, look what's happening with tablets.
They're getting more powerful and more immersive and a little more serious in their use case than they used to be, therefore going after laptops.
Examples of this would be the Apple iPad Pro or Microsoft's Surface Pro 4, suitable for all but the most demanding computing and creative tasks, something you wouldn't say about the earlier tablet that hit the market.
This all represents a shift in battle field as the tablet is now less head on against the smart phone, trying to be a phone with a bigger screen ad instead is becoming more of an alternative or compliment to the laptop.
With greater usability, portability and flexibility.
It looks a lot like chapter two and not chapter n. Know what's next at CNET.com/NextBigThing.
I'm Brian Cooley.
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