Small-sized tablets are making a comeback.

Previously, refurbished Nokia smartphones were selling like hotcakes, and later, CCD cameras experienced a revival. Now, the retro trend in consumer electronics has blown towards tablets.

As a product category that even government subsidies couldn't boost, tablets have had extremely low market presence in the past few years. At product launch events, they ranked only higher than smartwatches. In company year - end parties, as the second - prize item, they also faced competition from Switch and gimbal cameras.

Small - sized tablets have become the "Stalingrad" of the consumer electronics market. Apple's product updates for them have been intermittent, and Android manufacturers have collectively avoided competing in this segment, making it almost a forgotten territory.

However, in 2024, after three years of shrinking market size, the tablet market rebounded, with a 9.2% increase in shipments, giving the industry a much - needed breather. Manufacturers that had previously shown little interest in small - sized tablets couldn't resist making a comeback.

In October last year, the iPad mini, which had not been updated for three years, was finally updated, tasked with clearing the inventory of the A17 Pro chips. In June this year, Xiaomi launched its first small - sized tablet, the Redmi K Pad. In September, Huawei released the MatePad Mini, returning to the small - sized tablet market after a six - year absence.

Small - sized tablets once disappeared from the consumer electronics market, but now they have staged a comeback. The culprit behind this change is the iPad mini.

When Apple Enters the Battle, Nothing Survives

In September 2010, Samsung launched its first tablet, the Galaxy Tab 7.0. The "7.0" referred to the 7 - inch screen size, making it a pioneer in the small - sized tablet market.

To respond to the first - generation iPad released the same year, Samsung adopted a differentiation strategy. Compared with the 9.7 - inch iPad, the 7 - inch tablet was easier to hold with one hand and lighter in weight.

Although the sales of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 were debatable, it gave other manufacturers a new perspective. Google and Amazon quickly launched their own small - sized tablets, learning from Samsung's over - confident pricing strategy and focusing on cost - effectiveness.

iPad (left) vs Galaxy Tab 7.0 (right)

By 2012, the combined sales of small - sized tablets from Google, Amazon, and Barnes Noble (a bookstore) exceeded 15 million units [1], successfully catching Apple's attention.

In October 2012, Apple released the 7.9 - inch iPad mini. Phil Schiller, the vice - president of marketing, compared it with Google's Nexus 7 on - site, bluntly stating, "Other companies have tried to produce smaller tablets than the iPad, but they have failed miserably."

The iPad mini firmly established Apple's dominant position in the tablet market. In its first quarter on the market, it sold 10 million units, twice the annual sales of the Nexus 7 (4.5 - 4.8 million units [2]).

Nexus 7 (left) and iPad mini

In 2013, the iPad mini 2 was released. Its core components were on par with the iPad Air of the same year. It was a rare high - cost - effective product from Apple and remains the single tablet model with the highest sales to date.

Since then, the price of $399 has become an unspoken "price anchor" in the market.

The development logic of most consumer electronics products is generally to first determine the price range and the corresponding profit margin, and then decide on the component solutions based on the upper limit of the Bill of Materials (BOM) cost.

With a fixed price, arranging different component solutions is a balancing game of allocating limited resources according to demand.

Apple develops its own processors and software systems, with a higher degree of vertical integration. Coupled with the high compatibility of components between iPhones and iPads, the cost is further reduced. Objectively, it is difficult for Android manufacturers to achieve the same profit margin as Apple under the same cost conditions.

For example, the self - developed A5 chip used in the iPad mini cost $13, while the Nvidia Tegra 3 used in the Nexus 7 had a purchase price of $25. Due to the difference in vertical integration, the profit margin of the iPad mini was as high as 40% [3], while that of the less - performant Nexus 7 was less than 25% [4].

In this situation, the Android manufacturers, whose psychological defenses were broken by the iPad mini, collectively faced a thorny problem:

If they maintain the same component specifications as flagship phones, the price will inevitably exceed $399, making them vulnerable to targeted attacks from the iPad mini and easily defeated.

If they reduce the price below $399, the component specifications and product experience will have to be sacrificed, and they can only target the mid - and low - end markets.

Indeed, as the iPad mini dominated the market, Android manufacturers either completely withdrew from the tablet market or stayed below the $399 price line. Only Samsung's high - end tablets have been continuously updated, but in terms of sales, it seems more like a "I'm willing to do it" project to compete with Apple.

Small - sized tablets have completely become Apple's solo show. The Nexus 7 became almost obsolete after its second - generation iteration. Since 2012, the prices of Samsung's small - sized Galaxy Tab models have never exceeded $399.

In 2016, unable to sustain itself, Samsung completely discontinued its small - sized tablets. Coincidentally, at the Apple event the same year, the popular iPad mini was unexpectedly not updated and was put on the back burner.

The Loosening Price Anchor

Around 2015, Apple, which was almost invincible, began to adjust its tablet product line. It changed from the original two lines of iPad/iPad mini divided by size to three lines of mini/Air/Pro divided by function and usage scenarios.

According to Apple's plan, mini/Air/Pro correspond to the three scenarios of portability/daily office/high - performance applications respectively. At the same time, the more expensive Air and Pro also bear the task of increasing the overall profit of the iPad business.

However, in response to Apple's plan, consumers' reaction was "yes, you're right," and they unconsciously bought the iPad mini to a record high. By the end of 2015, the sales of the iPad mini accounted for 47% of the total iPad sales [5].

The more Apple calculated, the more it felt it was at a loss, so it simply discontinued the mini product line.

During the period when the iPad mini was not updated, its sales proportion gradually shrank to 9% in 2020, while the sales of the most expensive iPad Pro increased to 42%.

In 2019, the iPad mini 5 was quietly launched. Except for the routine upgrade of the processor, its appearance and functions carried a sense of history. It even retained the Home button and the extremely advanced 3.5mm headphone jack, clearly indicating an attempt to clear the inventory.

It wasn't until the release of the iPad mini 6 in 2021 that the mini product line adopted the Liquid Retina full - screen display, and the screen size increased from 7.9 inches to 8.3 inches. Meanwhile, the starting price increased from $399 of the previous generation to $499.

iPad mini 6 (left) and iPad mini 5 (right)

The price increase of the iPad mini means that the price anchor has been raised from $399 to $499. Considering that the $499 version only comes with Apple's traditional 64GB storage, the actual price space released is even larger.

For the Android manufacturers that have been suppressed by the iPad mini for nearly a decade, the loosening of the price anchor is like a timely rain.

Due to the lack of vertical integration, it is difficult for Android manufacturers to match the experience of flagship phones while maintaining a healthy product gross profit below the $399 price line. Therefore, most brands prefer to invest R & D resources in mobile phones and use mid - and low - end component solutions for tablets.

For example, the MediaPad M6 8.4" launched by Huawei in 2019 was still equipped with the Kirin 960 processor released in 2016, with a starting price of 1,999 yuan (the starting price of the iPad mini 5 in China in the same year was 2,999 yuan).

With the opening of the price space, product engineers have significantly more flexibility in choosing component solutions. It's like buying a house; the choice is very different between a budget of 5 million yuan and 20 million yuan.

At the same time, among the three major cost items of mobile phones (SoC, screen, and lens module), small - sized tablets have relatively lower requirements for the lens module. The saved cost can be invested in components such as the processor, battery, and screen, enabling them to match the performance of flagship phones.

The newly released Huawei MatePad Mini uses the same processor as the Pura 70 phone, paired with an OLED screen and a large 6400mAh battery. It is positioned for entertainment and mobile office use, with the same starting price as the iPad mini 7.

Similarly, Xiaomi's debut small - sized tablet also emphasizes high performance. It is equipped with the latest MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ (the Dimensity 9500 was released last month) and a large 7500mAh battery, with performance parameters basically on par with flagship phones.

Note: The Xiaomi Pad 4 is a large - sized tablet

According to the forecast of TrendForce, the shipments of "high - performance small - sized tablets" will increase by 45% this year, and the growth rate in the Chinese market will be as high as 116% [6].

In the process of making a comeback, small - sized tablets have another perfect assistant: mobile games.

Games Save Small - Sized Tablets

After 2015, the rapid progress of chip manufacturing technology led to an explosive improvement in the performance of mobile processors. As a result, in the usage scenarios of tablets, there was an oversupply of performance for entertainment and office needs, which promoted the differentiation of tablet usage scenarios.

During the era of Steve Jobs, tablets were more like enlarged smartphones, occupying an "intermediate position" between mobile phones and laptops, with strong versatility. Therefore, Jobs himself always looked down on small - sized tablets that sacrificed screen size.

In 2015, Apple equipped the first - generation iPad Pro with a dedicated A9X processor, supporting complex tasks such as image processing and video editing. With the connection of peripherals such as keyboards, it could objectively handle most low - load scenarios of laptops.

At the same time, the iPad product line switched from the iOS system to the dedicated iPadOS. Professional design software such as Final Cut Pro and Procreate, which focus on touch - screen handwriting, emerged, and third - party developers such as Adobe began to optimize applications specifically for iPads.

The iPad Pro marked the beginning of Apple's definition of the iPad as a "productivity tool." Compared with small - sized tablets, the iPad Pro has a 12.9 - inch large screen, a more expandable Type - C interface, and a weight of 713g, making it more like a laptop.

This led to the differentiation of the original "intermediate position" of tablets towards two ends. Large - sized tablets have larger and larger screens, catering to office and productivity scenarios. Small - sized tablets are more like "large - screen mobile phones," catering to high - load mobile game scenarios.

Although the processor performance of mobile phones is sufficient, operating on a 6 - inch screen is somewhat ineffective. Playing games on large - sized tablets with a screen size of 13 or even 15 inches is more like a strenuous exercise than entertainment.

In contrast, 8 - inch small - sized tablets are just right for holding with both hands. They have more internal space. The space saved from the lens module can be used to install larger heat sinks and large - capacity batteries, solving the lifelong enemies of mobile phones: battery life and heat dissipation.

After 2020, high - load games like "Genshin Impact" emerged one after another, which to some extent promoted the demand for products positioned as "gaming devices."

With high - end processors of the same generation, an appropriate screen size, and improved battery life, games and small - sized tablets are a perfect match.

In its promotional materials, Xiaomi's Redmi K Pad deliberately emphasizes its positioning as a "gaming tablet." Subsequent iterations of the iPad mini have also always focused on upgrading game performance, becoming increasingly distinct from the iPad Pro/Air, which focuses on office use.

The only product category that can compete directly with small - sized tablets is foldable phones. However, compared with the price of around $300 for small - sized tablets, foldable phones clearly lack competitiveness.