A strong fourth quarter for the tablet market will translate into 117.1 million units for 2012, according to IDC. That projection was raised from IDC's previous forecast of 107.4 million.
And in 2013, the tablet market is expected to hit 165.9 million units, up from IDC's previous forecast of 142.8 million.
The increased projections highlight the post-PC era, which has cast doubt on the strength of a Windows 8 upgrade cycle as well as resulted in third quarter warnings from the likes of Intel and AMD.
IDC also said that the tablet market will hit 261.4 million units in 2016.
The driver of these tablet sales remains Apple's iPad, but IDC projected that new Android and Windows 8 tablets will carve out niches. Among the notable points: