Pew study: One in three Americans now owns a tablet

That's up from one in four last year

Next week, Apple will be hosting an event where it’s expected to unveil some brand spanking new iPads and Macs. The iPad in particular is due for an update, especially given the influx of competitor tablets that have hit the market with better displays and more attractive price tags.

But how relevant are tablets, really? Remember when BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said that tablets would be obsolete in five years?

Yeah, don’t take investing advice from Thorsten Heins. Tablets, it turns out, are pretty damn relevant. Like, so relevant that now one in three people owns a tablet, according to a newly released Pew study. That’s up from one in four just last November.

Pew researchers surveyed more than 6,000 Americans 16 and older between July and September 2013, and the survey results reveal that tablet adoption continues to flourish. Some 35% of respondents owned a tablet, compared to 25% last year. Meanwhile, the number of people who own an e-reading device like a Kindle or a Nook has grown to 24% from 19% last year.  

While the tablet growth this year isn’t the doubling we saw in 2012, it’s still pretty impressive. In late 2010, only 9% of Americans owned either a tablet or an e-reader.

Who owns all these tablets, you ask? Exactly who you think: youngish, wealthy-ish people—but with some twists. For example, while young consumers are traditionally more likely than older consumers to be early adopters, the highest rate of tablet ownership—46%, compared to 37% of those in the 18-29 age range. That could be due to the surge in tablet usage in schools. A recent survey commissioned by Pearson revealed that 44% of kids are using a tablet for learning in some capacity.

Second to teenagers, respondents in the 30-49 age range had the next highest rate of tablet ownership at 44%.

And, naturally, the higher the income, the higher the likelihood that there’s a tablet in the house. Some 65% of households bringing in $150K a year or more have tablets, compared to just 22% of those bringing in less than $30K a year. Additionally, college graduates are more likely than non-college grads to have a tablet: 49% compared to 36% of people with some college education.

So that’s another one of those life statistics people can pull up when they talk about the value of a college education. Overall, a college degree will net you double the income a high school diploma alone will get you…and you’ll be 13% more likely to own a tablet. 

Image source: ansys-blog.com