The Global Market for Enterprise Tablets

Inside this Report

This report covers the overall market opportunity for rugged slate tablets and 2-in-1 devices used to support mobile enterprise and government line-of-business (LoB) applications. Specifically, this report primarily focuses on the enterprise LoB and industry-specific subset of the overall tablet and 2-in-1 opportunity. For this subset, examples of end users whose applications often rely on tablets include factory workers, warehouse workers, field service technicians, police officers, EMTs, firefighters, nurses/clinicians, flight-line aircraft personnel, soldiers, and many others. This report includes market sizing and forecasts for rugged devices. It also breaks down market opportunity for tablets by region and industry. Additionally, this report analyzes current hardware and software trends driving investments in tablets and 2-in-1 devices while providing outlook and insights for mobile hardware vendors.

What Questions are Addressed?

• What is the outlook for enterprise and government-issued tablets supporting LoB workflows?
• What is the relative opportunity by regional market, industry, and application environment?
• What are the primary developments and use cases for rugged tablets?
• What are the primary device functionality requirements by industry and application environment?
• What is the opportunity for rugged 2-in-1 detachable devices?
• What are the prevailing OS, display size and connectivity trends by application?
• What are the primary go-to-market strategies for the market?
• How will emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence impact rugged tablet solutions?
• Which vendors lead the market and different segments of the market?

Who Should Read this Report?

The target audience for this report is decision makers within marketing, product development, and sales/business development roles at mobile hardware OEMs as well as system integrators, value-added resellers, and distributors. In addition, end users within enterprise mobility purchasing, specification, and/or support responsibilities would benefit from reading this report.

Vendors Listed in this Report:

Executive Summary

The majority of rugged tablet OEMs saw modest to significant increases in revenue year over year. While Zebra saw notable year over year increases in the double digits, market leader Panasonic performed slightly below the market average. To drive future growth, OEMs are designing comprehensive, industry-specific solutions built around their rugged tablet offerings, tailored to the unique needs of frontline workers. Developed in collaboration with a strong partner ecosystem, these solutions integrate advanced connectivity, application-specific software, data capture and scanning peripherals, and emerging technologies such as AI. Together, they enable enterprises to enhance operational visibility, streamline workflows, and reduce overall operating costs.

Despite rising geopolitical conflicts causing potential disruptions to global supply chains, lowering inflation rates and upcoming device refresh cycles have led to a positive outlook for the rugged tablet market over the 5-year forecast from 2024 to 2029. Rugged tablet OEMs are constantly looking at new opportunities to differentiate themselves through partnerships, acquisitions, and solution developments. Despite global economic uncertainty exacerbated by US-China tariffs, many OEMs saw notable gains at the beginning of 2025.

Note: VDC Research has defined 2-in-1 detachable devices as tablets that can be attached to a keyboard to create a laptop-experience. For the device to fit into this category, the keyboard must be manufactured by the same OEM as the tablet and packaged together. Tablets fitted with 3rd party keyboards do not fit into this category. VDC categorizes which OEM devices are considered 2-in-1 detachable devices.

Key Findings:

• The Americas was the largest regional market for rugged slate tablets and 2-in-1 detachable devices in 2024. Over the 5-year forecast period, the North American region will grow the fastest in this market.
• Over the 5-year forecast period, fully-rugged slates will grow at the highest CAGR in North America, where public safety and field services continues to fuel demand.
• The fully rugged slate tablet and 2-in-1 detachable markets are Windows-dominant. Windows 11 is not supported on devices smaller than 9" displays. As Windows 10 loses support, new Windows-based devices shipped will be greater than 10". These dynamics open opportunities for Android-based devices to serve increasing demand for more portable use cases.
• While new Windows device shipments will be exclusively greater than 10", Android continues to make headwinds with supported devices that are 10". Led by Samsung's Tab Active Series, rugged OEMs are consistently releasing new Android devices.
• The semi-rugged tablet market is heavily saturated by Android-based devices. Some vendors, like Getac, are expanding their portfolios with new Android devices.
• There is rising demand for use cases centered around increased mobility and portable workflows, such as field maintenance, data capture and scanning, inventory management, and customer engagement on shop floors. As a result, growth outlooks for rugged slate tablets with 10" displays or smaller are greatest.
• 2-in-1 detachable devices continue to be adopted for keyboard-centric use cases, such as data entry, reporting, diagnostics, and access to databases like building schematics and patient health records. These devices are often mounted in vehicles and users value larger displays to conduct workflows. 2-in-1 detachable devices are expected to see the most opportunity for growth in the 11" to 12.9" display size range.
• As more devices and bandwidth-heavy applications are adopted in the enterprise, reliable and advanced connectivity capabilities are needed for workers to stay connected and access business and/or mission critical systems. Enterprise 5G and private wireless solutions have been stuck in early development stages and trial phase deployments.
• Panasonic remains the market leader in the global rugged tablet market in 2024. The OEM has consolidated its rugged portfolio over the past few years, by first ending support for Android devices, and more recently discontinuing its rugged slate tablet products. Today, Panasonic only offers two rugged tablets, the 2-in-1 detachable TOUGHBOOK G2 and TOUGHBOOK 33.
• While the market leader, Panasonic, lost market share in 2024, other key players saw growth and market share gain, creating a more competitive ecosystem going forward.