7-inch Android tablets expected to occupy 70% of non-iPad tablets, say Taiwan makers

Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Friday 2 November 2012]

In view of booming sales of the Nexus 7, 7-inch Android tablets are expected to take up at least 70% of the total sales volume of non-iPad tablets, with the remaining 30% to be for 10-inch Android and Windows 8/RT models, according to sources from Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

The sources pointed out that the 10-inch Android tablets may see a significant drop in demand as they will be sandwiched by Windows 8/RT tablets and 7-inch Android tablets. Many players are already cutting 10-inch Android tablet projects and turning to develop Windows 8-based models.

As for the tablet market in China, excluding Apple's iPad which enjoys a high popularity in the region, players such as Lenovo, Samsung Electronics and Asustek are all having difficulty competing against the local white-box players due to their rather competitive pricing; however, the first-tier brand vendors still plan to launch 7-inch tablet models with prices around CNY1,000 (US$160) to compete for the market. Asustek reportedly may launch a 7-inch model with a high performance/price ratio in the first quarter of 2013, while push its shipments to achieve its goal of shipping 10 million Android tablets in 2013.

7-inch tablets are expected to become new star products
Photo: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes file photo