Taiwan-based PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) was the world’s third-largest tablet computer supplier in the first quarter, even as its tablet shipments fell nearly 3 percent year-on-year, according to a research report.
In the report posted on International Data Corp’s (IDC) Web site on Thursday, the market information advisory firm said Asustek shipped 2.5 million tablets during the January-to-March period, accounting for a 5 percent share of the global market.
Asustek’s shipment volume was down 2.8 percent from the same period last year, when the company’s global market share stood at 5.4 percent, IDC said.
Apple Inc ranked as the largest tablet vendor in the world during the three-month period, with shipments of 16.4 million units for a 32.5 percent share, but its first-quarter shipments were down 16.1 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
Samsung Electronics Co was second with shipments of 11.2 million units in the first quarter — 32 percent higher than a year earlier — and a global market share of 22.3 percent, the report said.
China’s Lenovo Group (聯想) was in hot pursuit of Asustek with a 4.1 percent share in the first quarter after shipping 2.1 million units, up 224.3 percent from a year earlier.
Amazon.com Inc of the US was the fifth-largest tablet supplier with a 1.9 percent global share after shipping 1 million units, down 47.1 percent year-on-year, according to IDC.
IDC said global tablet shipments totaled 50.4 million units in the first quarter, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier, but down 35.7 percent from a quarter earlier, which included the holiday shopping season.
It attributed the meager year-on-year growth to strong competition from large smartphones.
“The rise of large-screen phones and consumers who are holding on to their existing tablets for ever longer periods of time were both contributing factors to a weaker-than-anticipated quarter for tablets and 2-in-1s,” IDC analyst Tom Mainelli said in a statement.
“In addition, commercial growth has not been robust enough to offset the slowing of consumer shipments,” he said.
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