Because of the weak economy and consumer confidence, tablet brands will continue to scale back their shipments in the first quarter of 2023 with overall volumes estimated to decrease by 20% from the prior quarter.
Taiwan makers' combined notebook shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022 were weaker than DIGITIMES Research had anticipated, dropping 16% sequentially, slightly higher than that of the global total, and down over 40% on year.
Global tablet shipments reached 38.4 million units in the third quarter of 2022, slightly better than DIGITIMES Research originally anticipated, driven mainly by increased orders from Apple, which saw tablet shipments disrupted by China's COVID-19 lockdowns implemented in cities of the Yangtze Delta, and other brand vendors' keen promotions on tablets.
Taiwanese notebook makers had shipments weaker than expected in the third quarter of 2022, growing only 2.7% sequentially, far less than the double-digit increase estimated by DIGITIMES Research originally, but still slightly higher than the growth of the global volumes.
According to DIGITIMES Research's observations, amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, worldwide inflation and interest rate hikes, 2022 global tablet shipments are estimated to further decline 1.5% to come to 139 million units. Looking into the next five years, governments around the world raise interest rates to fight inflation, which however curbs economic growth.
The notebook market is set to face a more than 20% decline in whole-year 2022 shipments with the second-quarter shipments starting to dive as post-pandemic market demand becomes relatively saturated on top of a series of black swan events including rising global inflation, the Russia-Ukraine war as well as aggressive interest rate hikes in mature markets and worse yet, lingering supply chain instabilities.
According to Digitimes Research's statistics, global tablet shipments amounted to 31.95 million units in second-quarter 2022, coming short of expectation, as the market fell under negative influences including low season effects and rising global inflation as well as China's COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, which mainly affected the supply side.
Taiwan's notebook shipments performed weaker than expected in the second quarter of 2022, slipping 17.1% sequentially and 24.2% on year to below 40 million units.
According to Digitimes Research's statistics, global tablet shipments amounted to 32 million units in first-quarter 2022 in line with expectation. The volume was the lowest since the COVID-19 outbreak started in first-quarter 2020 as the tablet market sustained pressure from the slow season and rising inflation while no longer enjoying pandemic-driven work-from-home (WFH) and online learning demand.
Taiwan's first-quarter 2022 notebook shipments performed weaker than expected, slipping over 20% sequentially and the lowest shipment level since the second quarter of 2020.
Global tablet shipments amounted to 37.13 million units in fourth-quarter 2021, up 5.4% from the prior quarter but down 20.2% from the prior year, as the tablet market continued to struggle with the IC shortage and the shipments came short of expectation in the traditional high season.
