Before anything else, convert the number you have. A tablet's advertised size is a screen diagonal. For a 4:3 panel, width is about 0.8 of the diagonal and height about 0.6. For a 16:10 panel it is about 0.85 and about 0.53. A sheet of ISO A4 at 210 x 297 mm is a fair physical stand-in for a 10 to 11 inch class device including bezel, which is a quick way to sanity check a drawing. Now pick the scenario that matches your job.
Retail box only, shipped inside an outer carton
This is the cleanest route and usually the cheapest overall. The retail box can be thinner and more decorative because it never meets a conveyor belt unprotected. Size it to the device in its packed state, plus the tray holding the charger, cable and documentation, plus a small clearance so the lid does not press on the screen. Then treat the finished external dimension of that box as the internal requirement of the shipper you put around it.
One box that is both retail and shipper
Common for direct to consumer, and it changes the spec. The cavity has to be tight, because any movement in a parcel network is repeated impact on a glass panel. The board has to be corrugated rather than plain board, and the closure has to survive handling and a tape seal. Plan a flat area on one face for a shipping label, and remember that anything printed under a label is wasted.
Refurbished, accessory or replacement device
Often there is no charger, no manual and no retail presentation, so the box is much smaller and the priority is pure protection. The temptation is to reuse the original retail dimensions. Do not: a half empty cavity is both less protective and more expensive to ship. Cut a new cavity to the device alone plus padding, and you will usually drop a parcel size band.
The layout decision that sets your depth
| Accessory layout | Resulting shape | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Device on top, accessories underneath | Compact footprint, deeper box | Classic presentation, but depth drives dimensional weight |
| Device beside a side compartment | Wider, shallower box | Faces better on a shelf, uses more shelf width |
| Accessories in a separate carton entirely | Slimmest device box | Two SKUs to manage, but the cheapest per unit to ship |
Cost and lead time
Minimum order is 100 boxes. Price starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes and is confirmed on your written quote, since a rigid presentation box and a printed corrugated shipper are very different builds. The cutting die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof before anything prints are included, so cutting the cavity to your exact device carries no tooling penalty. Production runs from West Chicago in the US and Guangzhou in China, in three lanes: rush (expedited production plus air freight, a premium of about 7 to 25% depending on the job), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery. Specialty imported rigid formats can run up to about 12 weeks.
For the step by step measuring method, see how to size a tablet box. For smaller device formats, cell phone accessory packaging covers the same layout question at a smaller scale. Send your converted panel dimensions, your accessory list and whether one box does both jobs through the quote form.
