Have you been wondering why there has been so much talk about smartwatches lately despite the fact that we really haven’t seen anything of interest from major vendors yet? Well here’s your answer: Tablet shipments from first-tier vendors are expected to decline in the holiday quarter this year. According to Digitimes’ research arm, Q4 tablet shipments from top vendors like Samsung, Apple and LG are expected to grow 18.1% sequentially to 42.15 million units this year. But that seasonal bump led by Apple’s completely redesigned iPad Air won’t stop shipments from dipping 2.5% on-year, according to the report. As the high-margin, high-end smartphone market continues to slow and tablet sales decelerate as well, consumer electronics companies need to look elsewhere if they hope to maintain solid growth. That “elsewhere,” it would seem, is smartwatches. Whether or not they’ll take off remains to be seen but with Apple, Google and others currently working on new offerings, 2014 could be the year we find out.
Declining Q4 tablet shipments turn up the heat on Apple, others
Published Nov 5th, 2013 5:25PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.
