14 DAY TRIAL // The fact that tablet market growth is getting sluggish is pretty well known among followers of the industry. As more and more people become tablet owners, it has become increasingly difficult to sell an impressive amount of slates.
In addition, even tech giants like Samsung are experiencing difficulties sale-wise. However, this statement is a bit bizarre especially since Samsung achieved the highest share of tablet PC share in Q1 2014.
Even so, the Korean tech giant decided to lower its expectation sale-wise for 2014, setting the bar at lower than 60 million unit, reports Asian website ETNews. So despite having a bountiful first quarter, why would Samsung choose to diminish its expectations?
The move is attributed to the fact that consumers are not replacing their notebooks and desktop as much as was expected. Furthermore, consumers continue to be drawn to mid-to-low priced products and saying no to tablets.
According to industry sources, the company cancelled mid- to low-range tablet products it was planning to unveil in the months of April and May.
Samsung had high hopes while tablet sales were concerned in 2014. At first, the company hoped it would be able to push as much as 100 million tablets by the end of the year, but those numbers decreased to 70-80 million as we advanced in 2014. Now, the 60 million figure seems like a really drastic reduction.
A while ago, market Research Gartner provided numbers indicating the global tablet market will flourish with 38.6%, which is 30% lower than the 68% achieved a year before.
Samsung launched a plethora of tablets in the firsts months of the year, including the premium Galaxy TabPRO / NotePRO lineup and its budget-friendly lineup, the Galaxy Tab 4, which includes 7-,8- and 10.1-inch models.
This aspect might have been the one that helped Samsung boost sales considerably in Q1 of 2014. The decision to lower sales expectation is also attributed by some to the fact that an important amount of inventory of the product channels in Q1 still lingers.
Another factor to consider is that Sammy is gearing up to launch tablets with AMOLED screens; yet, an important question remains here, is there a strong demand for premium products such as these, given that Samsung barely launched the Galaxy TabPRO/NotePRO devices?
Samsung had hoped to counter the decline experienced in the saturating smartphone market, with tablets. But as the plans don’t seem to be pulling through, Samsung might try another strategy in order to make profit – penetrating the server market.