Tablet sales help push Carphone Warehouse revenue to over £1bn

Strong demand for Android tablets helped boost Carphone Warehouse's sales in the final quarter of 2012, the firm announced in its Q3 financial statement.

Like-for-like revenue in the UK was up 16 per cent as the retailer's tablet sales hit 40,000 per week, up from 5,000 per week for the same period in 2011.

Demand for Android tablets like the Amazon Kindle Fire was particularly strong in the run-up to Christmas, and special deals that saw Samsung smartphones bundled with Samsung tablets also helped to boost revenue.

Revenue for the firm's entire European operation increased 14.5 per cent from £951m in 2011-12 to £1.1bn.

"We have become an authority in the tablet market for the first time ever," said chief executive Roger Taylor. "Having done that at a time when we've also managed to maintain our profitability is something we can be very proud of."

A statement released by Carphone Warehouse said the firm expects to "remain well-placed to benefit from an exciting range of smartphones and tablets".

The increasing availability of cheap tablets from a variety of competing manufacturers means consumers are no longer limited to just an iPad. Indeed, the increasing popularity of Android devices has caused Apple's share of that particular market to drop below 50 per cent.

Last month, Computing published a tablet roundup, pitching the Apple iPad against the Microsoft Surface, the Google Nexus 7, the Kindle Fire HD, Apple's iPad Mini and a 9.7in budget option from Prestigio. Watch the video here.