The two product categories are tied neck and neck as the most popular consumer electronics gifts in the US as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach.

Over half of US households may already own a tablet but, according to Parks Associates, they will still be top of most consumers' shopping lists as the holiday season approaches.

"Tablets are poised to be a big seller this Black Friday and holiday season, with Apple, Microsoft, and Nokia announcing new models, but the launch of new game consoles from Microsoft and Sony may steal their momentum," said Harry Wang, health & mobile product research director at Parks Associates.

Indeed, though most experts believe that smartphones and tablets will eventually do to traditional, ‘standalone' games consoles what they're already doing to the PC market, there is clear excitement around the upcoming launch of Microsoft and Sony's next-generation consoles — the Xbox One and PS4 — which will be arriving on the North American market just in time for Thanksgiving.

Parks Associates' figures suggest that 18% of US broadband households plan to buy a tablet over the holidays and 16% are getting ready to purchase either a PS4 or Xbox One. A year ago, the company's figures showed that only 11% of broadband households were interested in a games console, compared with 19% who were shopping for a tablet.

"New consoles offer a bigger 'feature jump' relative to tablets," said Brett Sappington, research director at Parks Associates.

"The tablets on sale this holiday season will be thinner, some with faster processors, but otherwise comparable to those sold last year. Consoles have had a major upgrade in terms of resolution, processing power, new features, and new titles. Already 14% of all US broadband households use a connected game console to stream video, and the enhancements in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will further expand the console use cases."

Currently, 61% of US broadband households own a games console and 55% a tablet. Parks Associates believes that figure will rise to 60% by the end of the year.

From the article, "Consoles and tablets are the must-have holiday season gifts." 

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