Taiwan makers saw a rare rise in their DSC shipments in the second quarter of 2014, thanks to strong orders from clients who were launching new models for the spring season. While their shipments stand little chance of returning to levels seen in the pre-smartphone era, drastic drops are neither likely, with small fluctuations expected to be the norm for the DSC sector.

Taiwan's notebook makers saw an unexpected sequential rise in shipments in the second quarter after the end of Microsoft's support for Windows XP generated a wave of replacement demand. Compared to the same period of last year, their shipments still dropped. But in general, the notebook market is improving amid signs that the tablet buzz is subsiding.

Shipment trends clearly show that the DSC market has been severely undermined by smartphones with improving camera functions. Taiwan's DSC shipments may grow sequentially in the second quarter 2014, but compared to the same period of 2013, they will register yet another decline of over 50%.

HTC lost its title as the biggest handset maker in Taiwan to Chi Mei Communication Systems in the first quarter 2014, as the former saw a sharp drop in shipments. But overall shipments from Taiwan's handset sector declined only slightly during the quarter.

Seasonality and high inventories at clients undermined Taiwan notebook makers' first-quarter 2014 shipments, which dropped following three consecutive quarters of sequential growths. Their shipments will decline further in the second quarter, as demand remains weak.

Taiwan's digital still camera (DSC) shipments dropped sharply in the fourth quarter of 2013 as challenges from camera-equipped smartphones continued. One of the major makers, Foxconn Electronics, has decided to quit the consumer DSC market.

Taiwan's handset shipments registered slight sequential growth in the fourth quarter of 2013. While brand vendor HTC remained the top player in Taiwan's handset industry, ODM Chi Mei Communication Systems narrowed its gap. The ODM is expected to leapfrog HTC in first-quarter 2014.

Recovering demand in both the enterprise and consumer segments boosted Taiwan ODMs' notebook shipments by 2.5% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2013, slightly weaker than the worldwide growth of 4.1%. Low-price tablets, Apple's new iPads and new smartphone models did not undermine demand for notebooks as much as originally feared.

In 2014, smartphones are expected to continue penetrating rapidly into emerging markets such as Russia, India, Indonesia and Latin America, while China's smartphone shipments will see weakened on-year growth in the year, but still enormous volume. This report will provide in-depth analyses to forecast whether global smartphone shipments in 2014 will maintain a growth similar to that of 2013 and what the global shipment scale will reach in 2014.

Digitimes Research estimates that in 2014 global tablet shipments will reach 289 million units. This report analyzes the main players, their strategies and shipments forecasts for 2014, as well as other factors contributing to either growth or decline in various segments within the tablet market, with a particular focus on Apple, Google, Samsung, and Microsoft, along with whitebox vendors. Moreover, the report discusses Taiwan tablet EMS/ODM makers and their shipment forecasts, along with their related market shares and shipment growth.

Digitimes Research estimates that global notebook shipments in 2014 will reach around 160 million units, down from a peak of over 200 million in 2011, but the drop in 2014 will be lower than the on-year drop in 2013, with new market developments, new product opportunities, and changes in the major players' strategies all playing critical roles in the IT industry's future trends. This Digitimes Research Special Report forecasts global notebook shipments, the share of Taiwan makers, and the shipment breakdown by the top-10 global brands.

Taiwan's handset ODMs saw significant shipment growth in the third quarter, but brand vendor HTC suffered sharp drops in shipments. As a result, Taiwan's overall handset shipments only registered a mild growth in the third quarter.