Global tablet shipments reached only 58.56 million units in the first quarter of 2014, down almost 30% sequentially, but up 4.6% on year despite Samsung Electronics trying to boost both its high-end and entry-level tablet shipments and Lenovo pushing shipments to meet its fiscal 2013 targets. Seasonality, Apple seeing weaker sales, and the tablet market growing mature were also factors that affected shipment performance, according to Digitimes Research.
Shipments of iPads suffered both on-year and sequential drops to reach 15.85 million units in the first quarter. Non-iPad tablet shipments were 22.31 million units, down 20% sequentially, but up over 30% on year thanks to strong demand for Samsung, Lenovo and Asustek's Windows-based models. White-box tablet shipments reached only 20.4 million units due to seasonality and labor shortages during the Lunar New Year holidays.
Apple and Samsung remained the top-two vendors in the first quarter, but the two players' market share gap was less than 6pp. Lenovo was the third-largest vendor, followed closely by Asustek Computer in fourth. Amazon and Google dropped to number seven and ten.
Taiwan ODMs shipped 22.15 million tablets together in the first quarter, accounting for less than 60% of global shipments. The largest maker, Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), and second-largest Pegatron Technology both suffered significant shipment drops due to lower-than-expected demand for iPad. Quanta saw increased shipments in the quarter because of Asustek's T100 tablet, and returned to being the third-largest maker in Taiwan. Compal Electronics' shipments suffered a sharp decline because Amazon's Kindle Fire range is approaching the end of its lifecycle, while Acer is turning to cooperate with China-based makers, Digitimes Research's figures showed.
This article is an excerpt from a Digitimes Research Quarterly Data Report (Global tablet market – 1Q 2014). Visit our latest Data reports.