IDC Senior Research Manager Annabelle Hsu stated, “Although the first quarter of 2017 was affected by the market off-season and shipments declined significantly, low priced slate tablets and detachable tablets assembly shipments are on the rise. However, the development of tablet products at the beginning of the second half of 2017 is expected to be polarized.”

In terms of shipment numbers, in the first quarter of 2017 tablet shipments from assembly plants in Mainland China accounted for 50% of Slate tablet shipments globally, while the amount of shipments by Taiwanese assembly plants exceeded 30% of global panel shipments. As for detachable tablet, the Taiwanese industry's global volume of detachable tablet assembly shipments slid to 63%, while Mainland Chinese manufacturers' shipments continued to account for approximately 26%.

As for the performance of the individual manufacturers, the top four ODM manufacturers are OCM manufacturers, with the exception of Samsung and Huawei, which have their own brands,

Looking ahead to the second quarter of 2017, IDC estimates that the amount of shipments for tablet manufacturers will continue to be affected by the off-market season and decline globally. In 2017 Slate tablet shipments are expected to continue to feel the impact of large-sized mobile devices development and decline. In the second half of 2017, the detachable tablet market demand is expected to benefit from new product features and technologies and improve significantly. This should also bring about an increase in tablet shipments for the global assembly industry.

(TR/ Phil Sweeney)