Low-price competition between tablet vendors to crowd out white-box players

Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Thursday 27 December 2012]

Google and Amazon have released 7-inch tablets priced US$199, and Acer and Asustek Computer reportedly release models priced at US$99 and US$149, respectively, targeting emerging markets such as China and India. The competition between these devices is expected to significantly impact China-based white-box tablet players, according to sources from channel retailers.

White-box tablets priced between US$59-199 are already suffering from competition between each other, and with brand vendors also entering the entry-level tablet segment, the sources expect one-third of the existing white-box tablet players to exit the market in the first half of 2013.

In 2013, only Apple will be able to stay firmly in the high-price tablet market, while non-Apple players will try to boost their price/performance ratios to gain more sales.

In the second quarter of 2013, the sources expect the market to see an obvious wave of white-box players quitting the business, and by the second half of 2013, only one-third of the current white-box players may still be in the market.