In the absence of new Apple products, tablets shipped to Apple - the major client taking up nearly 70% of Taiwanese tablet shipments - witnessed a 38% sequential decline in the first quarter of 2014, to approximately 16 million units. Declining tablet shipments for Apple, coupled with fewer new offerings waiting in the pipeline for launch, Taiwanese tablet shipment volume totaled 22.8 million units in the first quarter of 2014, down roughly 40% compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, according to MIC (Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute).
Shipment value of the Taiwanese tablet industry stood at around US$4.7 billion in the first quarter of 2014, down 46.6% sequentially. The slackened first-quarter shipment volume coupled with the declining shipments for Apple products that often have higher ASP (Average Selling Price), tablet ASP slipped 10% sequentially to US$207 in the first quarter of 2014.
Outlook for 2015
Microsoft launched on May 20 a 12-inch large-screen tablet, dubbed Surface Pro 3, which is designed to address the work productivity with a detachable keyboard provided. Devices with similar specs with Surface Pro 3 are Samsung 12.2" Note Pro and Apple's 12.9" MaxiPad which is slated to hit the market at the beginning of 2015.
Those tablets - which have ultrabook-alike technical specs such as panel, CPU, and OS as well as pricing - are gearing up to vie with ultrabooks for business users in the niche markets. Therefore, the impact of those high-priced tablets on affordable tablets is nothing compared to that of on ultrabooks.
Thus far, Wi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity) tablets remain the mainstream. Apple constitutes the lion's share in the 3G/4G tablets whereas other brands' share remains insignificant. In addition to the price factor, the popularization of 3G/4G smartphones is another determinant factor to weaken the consumer demand for 3G/4G tablets.
Driven by the increasing switchover from Wi-Fi to 3G/4G and Intel's plan to roll out low-priced 3G integrated chips, the number of 3G/4G tablets is expected to see increase in 2015 albeit at a modest rate as 3G/4G tablets still price higher than Wi-Fi ones and the demand of smartphones remains robust.
