After falling 8.7% on quarter and 11.9% on year to 32.66 million units in the second quarter of 2019, global tablet PC shipments are expected to surge 19.3% sequentially in the third quarter, thanks to the peak-season effect, the launch of new iPads, and Huawei gradually resuming normal tablet shipments, according to Digitimes Research.
The second-quarter shipment contraction was attributed to the absence of new iPad models as sales stimulus, the US trade ban undermining Huawei's shipments, and weak demand for white-box tablets.
In terms of second-quarter shipments by brand vendors, Apple firmly ranked first, Samsung and Amazon regained second and third places, respectively, and Huawei retreated to fourth. Lenovo returned to fifth place after ramping up shipments in the quarter.
In the third quarter, Lenovo will advance to third place replacing Amazon, which may drop to fourth place as a result of weak shipment momentum following its mid-July Prime Day promotions. Huawei is expected to fall further to the fifth despite gradual shipment pickup.
As to sizes, 10.x-inch tablets will continue to dominate the market. Apple is set to release 10.2-inch new iPads in late third quarter. Overall, tablets sized over 10 inches will surge to over 70% of global shipments in the fourth quarter.
In-cell touch display will gradually replace GFF (glass-film-film) touch screen among non-Apple tablet products, with the former's shipment ratio to surge to 36% in the fourth quarter.
As a chip supplier for Amazon, MediaTek returned to the 2nd spot in terms of tablet processor shipments in the second quarter thanks to Amazon's shipment ramp-up. But the Taiwanese chipmaker is expected to fall to third place in the third quarter on weakened shipments at Amazon, with Qualcomm to rebound to the second spot.