IDC: Fast-Growing Online Education Market Boosts Education Tablets

29 Apr 2020

Beijing, April 28, 2020 – With the deepening implementation of measures against the COVID-19 epidemic and of the Ministry of Education’s policy of “postponed school opening” and “no stoppage of learning despite school closure”, students of all grades across China have moved their classrooms online and studied at home. With the rapid development of the online education market, demand for tablets, projectors, printers and other related terminal devices has increased dramatically. According to IDC's monthly retail data tracker, online sales of tablets were up by nearly 100% year-on-year in February 2020 and continued to grow at almost 50% in March. In addition to the rising sales of ordinary tablets, those of education tablets are also booming.

Definition of Education Tablet:

Education tablets are tablets for K-12 education users, which are equipped with manufacturers’ self-developed or third-party educational resources, have control on the installation of entertainment apps, and mainly serve the purpose of education.

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Differences Between Education Tablets and Ordinary Tablets:

Education tablets are a type of ordinary tablets. Their hardware configuration is basically the same as that of ordinary tablets, but they are different in software application and built-in resources. Compared with ordinary tablets, educational tablets have no entertainment and office attributes and do not allow the installment of entertainment apps. Users can only download relevant education and learning apps or puzzle apps from exclusive app stores or websites. Leveraging rich educational resources and related education applications embedded in advance by manufacturers, education tablets have become a special tool for education and learning.

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Characteristics of Education Tablets:

Education tablets mainly target K-12 student users in the consumer market. They attract parents and student groups through their rich learning resources and learning functions, meaning that they are more suitable for family learning scenarios. Rich educational content and resources also highlight the specific attribute of education of these tablets. Compared with ordinary tablets, education tablets do not allow students to install software at will or play games, and parents' backstage control is stricter. In addition to the hardware per se, educational tablets also provide integrated educational contents and applications, thus more expensive. Online sales channel for education tablets mainly include the official flagship stores opened on leading e-commerce platforms. Offline channels are chiefly supermarkets, bookstores, franchise stores and value-added service experience stores. Compared with the case of ordinary tablets, parents are more inclined to experience and purchase education tablets offline.