Branded tablets will experience negative growth in 2014 at 153 million units shipped, an on-year decrease of 1.8%. Notebook shipments, on the other hand, will increase 1% on year to 171 million, according to TrendForce.
With the tablet supply chain mature and shipments growing fast, the retail price of tablets has fallen sharply. As a result, among all producers besides Apple, there will be a long-term price war in the tablet market.
At the same time, because of rising demand for tablets over recent years and the rapid decline in the retail price of notebooks, the market for netbooks has almost vanished.
But TrendForce believes notebook shipments will increase in the second half of the year for several reasons. First, with the tablet market flagging, they face fewer threats. Second, demand for notebooks in the commercial market remains steady. Finally, notebooks are priced very competitively. All of these factors will contribute to boost notebook demand, giving brand vendors such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), Lenovo and others room to grow that side of their businesses.
As such, TrendForce estimates the global notebook market has the potential to expand 4-7% in the second half of 2014, making 2014 the year when slowing notebook demand may finally reverse.
Source: Digitimes
