Tablet shipments take a huge nosedive during the first quarter of 2017
Global tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2017 fell by 34.5 percent compared with the previous quarter, representing a year-on-year decline of 9.3 percent, according to market intelligence firm TrendForce.
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Global tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2017 fell to 31.95 million units.
"After experiencing a significant retreat in shipments for the first quarter, the tablet market is now focusing on the sales performance of the economically priced 9.7-inch iPad that was released towards the end of this March," said TrendForce notebook analyst Anita Wang.
"At US$329, this model is the lowest priced iPad device that Apple has ever offered. The product is expected to generate sales in this second quarter as its shipments pick up."
Wang also pointed out that most of the consumers' attention was on the 9.7-inch iPad. Microsoft was supposed to release its Surface Pro 5 in the first quarter, but that has been delayed.
Topping the tablet vendor list is Apple, holding on to 27.9 percent of the global market with 8.92 million iPads shipped. However, compared to the fourth quarter of 2016, iPad shipments fell by 31.8 percent, while year-on-year shipments fell by 13 percent.
In second place was Samsung, shipping 6.1 million units, down 23.5 percent from the previous quarter and down 5.7 percent year-on-year.
And the declines get worse. Lenovo tablet shipments fell by 43.8 percent compared to the previous quarter, and Amazon shipments dropped by 42.9 percent.
But it's not all bad news for Amazon, as TrendForce believes the company has the best chance of posting annual growth among its competitors because its strategy of selling inexpensive devices will likely drive future growth.
TrendForce measures tablet sales for models with screens 7-inches or bigger and with a resolution of 1,024 x 600 pixels of greater, and excludes 2-in-1 PCs that feature a keyboard as standard.
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