You told us: You think the future of Android tablets is (mostly) bright

Android tablets have played second fiddle to iPads for years now, with Apple still being the top player in the tablet space. A major reason for this was that Android simply wasn’t well-optimized for tablets for the longest time.

Features Editor Rita El-Khoury recently opined that Samsung is the reason why the future of Android tablets is bright. But do you think the future of Android slates is bright in the first place? We posed this question to you, and here’s how you answered it.

Do you think the future of Android tablets is bright?

Results

Over 1,100 votes were cast in this poll, and it turns out that 59.3% of respondents think that the future of Android tablets is bright.

Meanwhile, 31.7% of surveyed readers reckon the future of Android tablets is “average.” Finally, 9% of respondents reckon the future for Android tablets isn’t bright and Google will abandon it.

Nevertheless, it says a lot that almost a third of respondents feel that the future of Android tablets is merely okay rather than bright. This suggests that Google still has a lot of work to do.

Comments

• splus: Samsung, not Google, is why I’m confident about the future of Android, period!
  Google has been dropping the ball in almost every area of their business, even in Search, let alone Android. From what I can see Samsung is ahead of Google in WearOS as well.
• PointBreak: Samsung never stopped doing tablets and now they’re 10 years ahead pf everyone. Now, Android needs desktop apps like Photoshop.
• Stanley Kubrick: I believe that tablets will continue to find a market simply because you can get one for less than half the cost of a foldable. Two vital things need to happen before the novelty of foldables wears off completely: (1) They must come way down in price! Nearly 2 grand for a phone is unsustainable. (2) They must become way more durable to justify ANY price! Accomplish that and foldables may survive.
• srgonu: I totally agree with this article. Samsung has been very consistent in releasing great tablets and now pushing google in foldable space. I have Tab S7+ purchased in 2020 and it still works like new. Though some folks call Samsung software bloat, I love what they are doing with One UI. It is much productive than pixel or ios and a fun way to interact with devices.
• AS: Google dropped the ball when they sold sketchup, instead of porting it to the nexus 10. I bought the nexus 10, pixel c, and pixel slate, and Google have offered nothing but life support for these until dropping them. Same will happen with the new google tablet because Google can’t be bothered to finish the job. Case in point: Where’s the stylus and keyboard for the new tablet? Should have been available at launch.
• John Freiman: Software update is only one reason why I won’t buy an expensive Android tablet, the other is my deciding factor: If I’m going to use a “tablet” for work – a daily driver, so to speak, it would be a Windows based Surface. The battery life isn’t as good as a high end Android tablet, but it doesn’t compromise and allows me to use ALL the apps I need AND want. Plus, I can expect upgrades for years to come – no worry of product or manufacturer abandonment.
• defunct up: I still think ChromeOS is the better vehicle for tablet development because of the desktop-like experience you get (a WAY more powerful browser experience, developing Steam support, desktop-style creative and productivity apps) and you still get Android app support. We just need more versatile and powerful options that include more (and better) Arm chips and hardware. Aside from that, Samsung is doing great bridging that divide between a powerful tablet experience for multitasking and general tablet media consumption through DeX development.