Report: Worldwide tablet shipments off to a poor start in 2014

On the day following Apple's fiscal second quarter earnings report, which showed a decline in iPad sales, a researcher reported a drop in global tablet shipments. According to the data, global shipments of tablets declined 30% during the first quarter of 2014, from the fourth quarter of 2013. That means that 58.56 million slates were in transit during Q1. The reasons for the decline were varied, and included seasonality, the maturing of the tablet market, and the decline in iPad sales reported by Apple.

Apple said that it had sold 16.3 million units of its iPad during its fiscal second quarter (calendar first quarter) which was a sharp drop off from the 19.5 million sold in the same quarter last year. The numbers cited in the researcher's report were slightly different than what Apple announced, with 15.85 million iPads said to have been shipped in Q1. Non iPad tablets shipped totaled 22.31 million. That was a 20% decline from the December quarter, but up 30% year-over-year. The gain from the 2013 quarter was due to heavy demand for Samsung and Lenovo's Android powered slates. Asus' Windows Phone models also contributed to the gain.

Apple and Samsung werethisclose in the global manufacturer's rankings. Only 6 percentage points separated the two as the iPad is losing its grip on its once dominating share of the tablet market. Lenovo and Asus were third and fourth respectively. Amazon was seventh on the global tablet market share list, with Google at number ten.

source: DigiTimes