Strong Holiday Sales in 4Q Taking up 30% of the Worldwide Total Tablet Shipments in 2013

Monday 27 January 2014, Amsterdam

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. An 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.

According to the new report, Taiwanese cable, IP and OTT STB shipment volume is estimated at approximately 12.99 million units, in the fourth quarter of 2013, up 13.4% year-on-year; shipment value is to reach at US$889.8 million. With the aggressive move of North American operators like Comcast toward IP-based cloud services, cable STB upgrades and replacements are likely to continue. Digital switchovers in China and India are also to help boost the shipment of cable STBs. The increase in IP STB shipments is expected to ascribe to orders outsourced by branded vendors from China, the Netherlands, and first- and second-tier vendors from North America.

In addition, Taiwanese IP STB makers are slated for small-scale shipments of IP hybrid broadband STB solutions in 2014 after Taiwanese makers' active negotiations with cable and satellite TV operators. Aside from branded and Chinese orders, Taiwanese OTT STB makers reportedly have secured new orders for 2014. The full-year shipment volume of Taiwanese cable, IP and OTT STBs will hit around 44.6 million units in 2013 with shipment value of about US$3.10 billion. The industry is anticipated to achieve shipment volume of 21.0 million units in the first half of 2014, up 10.2% year-on-year, with shipment value reaching about US$1.38 billion.