After facing a second quarter where overall shipment results came in below expectations, tablet vendors are expected to see a rebound in the third quarter, with global shipments increasing 23.8% on quarter, according to data from the latest Digitimes Research Tracker service. Worldwide tablet shipments will reach 68.5 million units in the third quarter, up 9% from the same period last year, but Digitimes Research noted that with the global tablet market maturing, annual growth will fall to single digits in both the third and fourth quarters of 2014.
The recently published Global Tablet Market Tracker report forecasts that the third quarter will represent the first period of 2014 to show sequential growth, as vendors face less adverse market conditions.
The most significant market factor constraining shipments in the second quarter was Samsung failing to meet expectations. The vendor was unable to continue the growth momentum it had previously seen in all its tablet lines, mainly because the market saw no significant difference between Samsung's new mid-to-high-end Android products and the Apple iPad or even Samsung's previous generation products.
Samsung also originally expected to increase its 8.x-inch market share but failed to take even 20% of that market, while sales of its low-priced phablets suffered in emerging markets, as they still maintained a price premium compared with competitors.
Tablet vendors will continue facing market obstacles as they head into the second half of the year. The global tablet market is maturing and notebook vendors are looking to reclaim market share by offering notebooks priced similarly, or even cheaper, than tablets. Digitimes Research forecast that annual growth in the fourth quarter of 2014 will fall to 0.5%.
This article is an excerpt from a Digitimes Research Quarterly Data Report (Global tablet market – 2Q 2014). Visit our latest Data reports.