The global tablet shipments have been dropping for a few years now, but they’re headed to a new all time low, according to the latest info. Turns out that global tablet shipments will hit a quarterly low of 31.06 million units in Q2 2018.
The previous negative record was the 33 million units hit in Q1 2017 and we thought I couldn’t get worse. Back then it fell 28.2% sequentially and 14.9% on year, thanks to insufficient stimulation from the non Apple brands. That was of course Q1, which means that it was the worse season of the year for device makers of all types. White box makers’ clients also adjusted inventory during that time.
Shipments are expected to fall even further, to as low as the above mentioned 31.06 milli-on units, according to Digitimes Research. It’s strange to see such a glum prediction, seeing how Apple unveiled a new iPad recently, but they also failed to offer sharper price cuts for existing products. Yes, there’s a $299 iPad out there, but apparently that’s not enough.
In the meantime, as far as the tablet CPUs are concerned, Samsung Electronics and Huawei have increased their ratios of in house developed solutions. MediaTek and Qualcomm are going down. Apple’s shipments are expected to pick up, as well as the Amazon ones. White box makers will get a larger shipment decline, as has been the case for a few years now.
