No matter how hard the tablet manufacturers, together with marketers, try, but devices of this format have not yet become “killers” of personal computers. If we take the statistics of independent companies involved in the analysis of the mobile device market, we can see far from the most encouraging trend - the demand for tablets is falling year by year. Moreover, volumes are declining not only in some particular regions, but also in all countries.
Tablet manufacturers are trying to revive this sector, making many attempts, sometimes even too bold and unprofitable for themselves from a financial point of view. Changing the design, "filling", equipment, equipment and some other points that you can at least somehow influence. But it is not possible to return the former interest of buyers, and all the efforts of tablet manufacturers are fundamentally changing nothing.
The situation in the domestic market
The domestic consumer has a rather specific taste, where price is a critical factor. That is, first of all, he needs an inexpensive and practical device, and productivity and beauty go far into the background. Here we are talking about budget tablet manufacturers. Reviews about them are ambiguous, but sensible models can still be selected.
The most popular in Russia are devices of the brand Digma, Irbis, BB-mobile, etc. The latter have a wide model range and the availability of devices. In fact, the entire budget sector is tablets from Chinese manufacturers. They will not be presented on our list, since the article will focus only on the best, which, in principle, is a synonym for the word "dear".
So, we denote the best tablet manufacturers in the global mobile technology market. All the brands described below have a long and successful history of existence, and the produced models are sold around the world.
Rating of tablet manufacturers:
- Apple
- Samsung.
- Asus.
- Lenovo.
- Acer.
- Microsoft.
- Sony.
- "Huawei".
Let's take a closer look at the leaders of the list and see why, in fact, they are there.
Apple
The venerable company from Cupertino, in the state of California (USA), has been confidently holding the leadership bar for many years now. In general, if we take the trading statistics of the “apple” brand, we will see that sales of devices from Apple were lost somewhere in the last places in a dozen other tablet manufacturers.
Judging by user reviews, there are no complaints about the company's products as such: the gadgets are reliable, attractive, productive, but with one serious and for many critical drawback. We are talking about the stubborn reluctance of the brand to equip its devices with slots for external memory cards. Yes, the internal drive has an impressive amount, but for some fans of "heavy" files it is clearly not enough.
In addition, the "principle" of gadgets from Apple played a far from small role. If we compare the "apple" tablets with direct competitors on the "Android" platform, then the latter with a noticeable margin win their versatility. That is, on iOS you can’t just take and install any application. You need to go through a compatibility check and use only proven, or rather, only two sources for downloading applications. Here you can add a very meager, in comparison with the “Android” brother, a set of programs.
Model Features
Apple tablets can not be attributed to the budget segment, but something more or less acceptable for the domestic consumer can be found. A vivid and relatively democratic representative of the company is iPad mini 2. The model, thanks to its excellent technical component, has still not lost its relevance. This also includes, as always, impeccable build quality, sensible optimization of program code and a productive set of chipsets.
Another noteworthy feature of Apple tablets is the aspect ratio of 4 to 3 and the Retina matrix. The latter is characterized by a maximum density of points for this kind of gadget. No matter how closely you look at the screen, you will not be able to notice individual pixels.
Users in their reviews have repeatedly complained about this aspect ratio. Watching movies on the iPad is not very comfortable: horizontal black bars are visible from above and below, or the image is elongated vertically. But the company never tried to make another multimedia gadget out of its devices. “Apple” devices are designed to perform other, no less important and interesting tasks, where the usual aspect ratio is 16 to 9 or 10 is less practical.
Premium Options
In the premium segment, the Air 2 and Pro Series are leading the way. Yes, the tablets turned out to be almost perfect, with the most modern and high-performance “stuffing” along with excellent ergonomic performance. But in pursuit of lower prices, they even “forgot” to put a pen in the box for flagship models, not to mention the keyboard or case.
Drawing conclusions, we can confidently say that Apple is one of the best tablet manufacturers, but not everyone can afford to buy such an expensive device, especially when it comes to the domestic market for mobile equipment.
Samsung
Another venerable company, which Apple considers its first competitor. Over the past couple of years, the manufacturer of tablets and other mobile devices, Samsung, has simplified and ordered the range of its gadgets somewhere.
More recently, experts in this field have noted some incomprehensible competition between different series of the same manufacturer, but today everything has been noticeably simplified. That is, all models filled their specific niches in a particular segment: budget, premium and flagships.
On the one hand, such a reorganization benefited the company: users, having a certain financial reserve, had a clear idea in which particular sector they would choose models. Well, on the other hand, a lot of really interesting solutions were lost, like Note Pro with pen management or Tab Active protected devices.
In addition, the company revised its policy for the multimedia segment, and models with 4: 3 aspect ratios began to appear on the market (hi Apple). And since Samsung gadgets have always been distinguished by a more attractive pricing policy, unlike apple devices, we can say that the brand has occupied an empty budget niche in this class.
Noteworthy models
Among other gadgets, the Tab S series is most in demand among domestic consumers. The models are equipped with a modern AMOLED screen and a very attractive set of chipsets. User reviews about the Tab S are mostly positive, and the owners do not note any critical flaws.
As for the other lines, everything is ordinary there: ordinary TFT-matrices with an average “stuffing” in performance. What you should pay attention to are the flagship models. Specificity is not needed here, because all devices without exception have a quality component in all respects and an attractive (in comparison with Apple) pricing policy.
Asus
In the smartphone segment, the brand’s situation is not the best, but the situation with tablets is completely different. Judging by the sales statistics, Asus is firmly in the top three leaders, not only in our territory, but throughout the world. People will not buy bad gadgets, especially in such quantities and for so many years, so we can conclude that the brand is one of the best manufacturers of tablets.
A Taiwanese company focuses on a variety of series and rulers. Looking at the next representative of Asus, you will not see anything innovative or outstanding in technical terms. The brand’s tablets take their buyer precisely with a chic assortment for any needs and occasions. There can be more than a dozen modifications of any successful model for any “pocket”.
Notable tablets
In all the variety that Asus offers, you can separately highlight the FonePad series, MeMo Pad and the company's latest brainchild - ZenPad. The latter is still characterized by a variety of rulers: 7, 8, 10 inch screens, Mediatek, Intel, Qualcomm chipsets, LTE modules, Wi-Fi, 8, 16 or 32 GB internal drives. That is, the lineup is designed for all categories of customers - from the budget to the premium segment.
Transformers
You can also note the current transformers. Moreover, some models work not only on the familiar Android platform (Transformer Pad), but also on Windows (Transformer Book). The diagonal screens of the transformers start at 10 inches, and, as with other tablets, the user has access to many modifications for every taste, color and wallet.
Owners mostly respond positively to models from Asus. The only thing that sometimes annoys potential buyers is a huge assortment of gadgets. Yes, there is plenty to choose from, but my eyes just run up from modifications and it’s rather difficult to navigate the total mass of tablets. Moreover, the cost of one model can vary significantly, especially for the gaming segment.
Summarizing
In today's market conditions, where the demand for equipment and tablets is also falling, it is impossible to unequivocally answer which gadget is better. All of the above manufacturers produce high-quality and interesting devices.
Each brand has its own strengths and weaknesses. And here the choice of the best model depends only on the consumer. First of all, you need to decide what exactly you expect from the tablet: reliability, a good screen, prestige, attractiveness or affordable price. Decide for yourself which parameter is more important, and choose based on your requirements.
It should also be noted that hybrid models began to appear on the market more often, that is, gadgets that include a keyboard, some special pens for drawing, functional covers or integrated docking stations. A similar evolution of tablets allows them to find their place in the market, and manufacturers, in turn, are trying to please the consumer in everything. Therefore, there are a lot of offers, and the demand is small, so there is plenty to choose from both in terms of "filling" and cost.