LONDON: Over 4m people in the UK will buy or receive a tablet this Christmas, with children and younger adults the most likely recipients, according to a new survey.

Some 2,262 adults were polled by YouGov for Newsworks, the marketing body for UK national newspapers. The results indicated that 10% of the adult population were expecting to either buy or receive a tablet over the festive period.

Younger adults aged 18 to 24 had the highest expectations of receiving a tablet as a gift (5%). This, suggested Newsworks, was good news for newspaper publishers, as keeping up with news was a core activity for tablet owners in this age group (62% weekly).

In addition, two out of five 18-24 year olds (39%) also spent more time reading news once they owned a tablet.

Current ownership had grown fastest among 35-44 year olds in 2013 and almost half of them (47%) now owned a tablet compared with a third (34%) in December 2012. They were also the most likely to buy a tablet as a gift this Christmas.

Younger children will be among the beneficiaries as over one in four people buying tablets as presents will give them to a child aged 10 or under (27%), with some going to children as young as five or under (7%).

A month before Christmas, a significant proportion of intending buyers (21%) had yet to decide on the brand they would purchase although most (60%) planned to spend less than £200.

That ruled out Apple products for many, although for those consumers planning to buy an Apple tablet the new iPad Air topped the wish list. And Apple remained the brand leader among current tablet owners, with 55% having one.

Just 9% said they would spend more than £400, while the most popular price range was between £100 and £200 (42%). The Hudl, priced at £119 from supermarket Tesco, was prominent with 17% of would-be recipients hoping to see it under their Christmas tree.

Data sourced from Newsworks; additional content by Warc staff