Whitebox Tablet PC Shipment Growth Over 230% QoQ in Q1: DisplaySearch

Taipei, June 17, 2011 (CENS)--Whitebox (local or non-branded) tablet PC vendors increased shipments from 567,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 1.9 million units in the first quarter of 2011, a 235% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth rate, making them the fastest growing segment of the worldwide tablet PC market, according to the DisplaySearch.

The international display-market research and consulting firm said that China represented the largest market for whitebox tablet PCs, accounting for 44% of worldwide shipments. Overall shipments of the tablet PC category were down 5.2% QoQ, from 10.2 million units to 9.7 million units in the first quarter, but up nearly 13-fold YoY, from 668,000 to 9.7 million units.

Apple remains the leader in the tablet PC market with a 54% share, and is the leader in many aspects of the segment in terms of usage experience, hardware design and price. The growing size of the whitebox tablet PC market, with nearly a 20% share in the first quarter, is a sign of increasing demand by the mainstream market for tablets.

Richard Shim, senior analyst for DisplaySearch, pointed out that price is a significant influence on any consumer product, and tablets currently carry a healthy premium on the cost of the hardware components. The emergence of the whitebox tablet market is an indication that the market is reacting to that premium and trying to give consumers a lower price to drive adoption. In the short term, the tradeoff will likely result in a less than ideal user experience, he added.

The whitebox tablet PC space is made up of screen sizes primarily in the 7- and 10.1-inch wide categories, but also includes screens mirroring the Apple/HP form factor of a 9.7-inch 4:3 format.

The whitebox tablet market in emerging regions is price-sensitive and is partially able to exist because whitebox tablet makers use panels that are left unused by major brands with slightly lower quality levels, like lower brightness, DisplaySearch said. China is the biggest market for whitebox tablet PCs, other emerging regions are also adopting these tablets, including Asia Pacific, Latin America, and parts of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

The other segments of the mobile PC market, mini-note (netbook) and notebook PC, experienced QoQ and YoY growth rates similar to tablet PCs. The mini-note segment grew 17.3% QoQ in China as a result of holiday demand, but YoY results declined 10.2%. The opposite occurred in the notebook segment, where shipments QoQ declined 5.9% while shipments YoY slightly rose 1.6%, the research firm said.

Worldwide Q1'11 Mobile PC Segment Shipment Growth Rates
	Q/Q	Y/Y
Tablet PC	-5.2%	1349.5%
Mini-Note PC	17.3%	-10.2%
Notebook PC	-5.9%	1.6%
Source: DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report