Everyone knows that tablet sales are declining, but that hasn’t stopped some manufacturers who are still making them. There have been rumors that the Apple iPad Air is getting a refresh soon and some other Android manufacturers might be looking to update their current tablet lineups. Yet, one would have to wonder, what could they change to make them better? The resolution has already been bumped in most cases and while there’s always room for more resolution, it wouldn’t seem to make that much difference and it would consume more energy, which is certainly not what most users would want. Tablets have been getting very thin and light and once again, they could cut down these measurements but those would not be appreciated at plain sight. Processors have been getting better, so they would most certainly include a more recent offering in the new tablets along with more RAM, but that’s really just for future-proofing, as tablets perform quite well nowadays.
Sony has been making some tablets and most of them have been very well received by reviewers and those who end up buying them, the problem is that not many people bought them. There have been some rumors suggesting that the Xperia Tablet lineup could come to an end because promotional material from Sony stores states that sales for such devices would end in March. A Japanese store manager from Sony mentioned in his blog that the models with only Wi-Fi connectivity are the ones that would not get updated models. Then, he mentioned that these models would be dropped to make room for new products in the coming months.
Sony’s latest offerings include the 10.1-inch Xperia Z4 Tablet released in March 2015 and the smaller 8-inch Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact released in September 2014. Both of them are still among the most lightweight and they are quite slim. The hardware is even IP68 certified, making them among the only water-resistant tablets. Sony scheduled an event at the MWC 2016 in February and we still don’t know what the company will announce there, since a new flagship smartphone seems unlikely. Perhaps the Xperia Z6 Tablet or Xperia Z6 Tablet Compact could update its design to look more like the Xperia Z5 lineup and include a fingerprint scanner or maybe they could even change the format to a 4:3 screen, making them better for reading in portrait mode.