MIC's industry analyst, Joen Yang said that” in the fourth quarter, traditionally the peak period with strong purchase demand coming from the year-end holiday, the Taiwanese tablet industry is anticipated to have had an upward surge in shipment volume with a 45% sequential growth.”

“This is evidenced by the fact that branded vendors and large-scale channel distributors have jointly launched US$49 promotional models.”

In the North American market, for instance, major branded vendors Apple and Amazon are projected to witness shipment volume growth at a fairly rapid rate.

Small- & Medium-sized Chinese Vendors Stand Higher Chance in Low-priced Tablet Competition

7-inch low-price tablets are becoming the market mainstream. Compared to buying a PC system, barriers for consumers in their purchase of a tablet are lower and the replacement rate is also faster. Tablets are now mainly used for entertainment purpose and not for work productivity. For this reason, tablets are more like a consumer electronic product.

Except popular tablets, such as Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle Fire or Google Nexus, that have been sold continuously and buoyantly for two to three quarters, other small- and medium-sized tablets are inevitably susceptible to price competition one quarter after achieving peak sales.

With a relatively short sale period for each tablet, the situation happens in the mobile phone industry - where branded vendors have to come out with new models constantly to spur market interest and lift sales figures - is likely to be seen in the tablet industry as well. Other than cost pressures from R&D and manufacturing, short-term marketing strategies have triggered the price war.

Small- and medium-sized Chinese tablet markets are likely to stand out amid the low-price competition while contract manufacturers like Taiwanese makers will have no choice but to focus mainly on contract manufacturing orders outsourced by international brands for mid-range and high-end products.