Owing to the lack of manifest market demand for tablets, the tablet industry in the third quarter of 2013 only managed to reach the similar level of shipment volume as compared to the second quarter. MIC's industry analyst, Joen Yang said that” in the fourth quarter, traditionally the peak period with strong purchase demand coming from the year-end holiday, the Taiwanese tablet industry is anticipated to have had an upward surge in shipment volume with a 45% sequential growth.” “This is evidenced by the fact that branded vendors and large-scale channel distributors have jointly launched US$49 promotional models.” In the North American market, for instance, major branded vendors Apple and Amazon are projected to witness shipment volume growth at a fairly rapid rate.

Small- & Medium-sized Chinese Vendors Stand Higher Chance in Low-priced Tablet Competition

7-inch low-price tablets are becoming the market mainstream. Compared to buying a PC system, barriers for consumers in their purchase of a tablet are lower and the replacement rate is also faster. Tablets are now mainly used for entertainment purpose and not for work productivity. For this reason, tablets are more like a consumer electronic product. Except popular tablets, such as Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle Fire or Google Nexus, that have been sold continuously and buoyantly for two to three quarters, other small- and medium-sized tablets are inevitably susceptible to price competition one quarter after achieving peak sales.

With a relatively short sale period for each tablet, the situation happens in the mobile phone industry - where branded vendors have to come out with new models constantly to spur market interest and lift sales figures - is likely to be seen in the tablet industry as well. Other than cost pressures from R&D and manufacturing, short-term marketing strategies have triggered the price war. Small- and medium-sized Chinese tablet markets are likely to stand out amid the low-price competition while contract manufacturers like Taiwanese makers will have no choice but to focus mainly on contract manufacturing orders outsourced by international brands for mid-range and high-end products.

Taiwanese Tablet Shipment Volume by Operating System, 1Q 2011 - 3Q2013

Source: MIC, December 2013

To see more about this report, please visit: The Taiwanese Tablet Industry, 4Q 2013

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About MIC

Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english