Global tablet shipments declined 10 percent sequentially and more than 15 percent year-on-year to reach only 45.76 million units in the second quarter, according to Taiwan-based Digitimes.
Major markets felt the impacts of weak currencies; mid-range to entry-level large-size smartphones continued to cannibalise tablets; and vendors saw high inventory, Digitimes says.
Numbers of tablet shipments from white-box players dropped 16.6 million units or more than 10 percent sequentially, with demand for these devices greatly impacted by large-size smartphones and competitive products from brand vendors, Digitimes says.
Market leader Apple’s iPad shipments declined to 10.3 million units, still well ahead of everyone else. Digitimes predicts Apple will end production of the current iPad mini in the near future, launching a new version in Q4.
Non-Apple brand vendors shipped 18.86 million tablets, down 7.4pc sequentially. Samsung and Lenovo were the second and the third largest, behind Apple, followed by Microsoft in fourth place.
