Shipments of application processors for tablets in the China market grew at a lower-than-expected 5.9% sequentially in the third quarter of 2014 as sales of white-box tablets were affected by the roll-outs of low-priced models by brand vendors, according to Digitimes Research.
MediaTek saw shipments of its tablet-use APs soar 25% sequentially in the third quarter, with total shipments surpassing China-based rival Rockchip Electronics. But MediaTek's share in China's tablet AP market edged down to 22.6% in the third quarter from 27.2% a quarter earlier due to strong shipment growth posted by Intel.
Sales of tablet APs by Rockchip and fellow company Allwinner Technology were also affected by growing shipments from Intel and saw their shipments decline 11.8% and 10%, respectively, on quarter.
Intel posted a 150% sequential growth in tablet AP shipments in the quarter, but not all of its tablet APs were being used for the production of tablets. Some were stockpiled as inventory and some were built into devices other than tablets, Digitimes Research indicated.