In the wake of the success of the launch of iPad, tablet PC is undoubtedly the consumer electronics that draws the largest attention this year. Recently, Samsung rolled out the Galaxy Tab, followed by other major manufacturers of mobile device and PC such as RIM, HP and Acer. All these brands take part in this tablet competition that has gradually been formed.

 

Based on WitsView and DRAMeXchange, the research divisions of TrendForce, the market scale of tablet reached 14 million units this year. With the introduction of various new products as well as the stimulation from price promotions, tablet segment is expected to enter its growing phase next year, and the overall shipments will multiply by 3.7 times to 54 million units. Tablet computers will potentially become the dominant force with 100 million shipment units in consumer electronics market in 2013.

 

Sean Yang, a senior research manager at DRAMeXchange, indicates that the application of software is the key element for tablet companies to compete with rivals. Since Apple iPad’s system is simpler, the integration of software is relatively easy compared to that of other tablets adopting other operating systems. Accordingly, it managed to capture not only almost a hundred percent market share this year, but the market share is also projected to maintain at more than 70% in the upcoming years. In terms of Android platform, the current 2.2 was not designed for tablets, so the explosive growth is estimated to emerge with the introduction of Android 3.0 in 2011.

 

WitsView’s research director Eric Chiou further points out that the development in sizes will determine whether tablets could become the product that sells for a long period of time. Netbook started up with 7-inch, but 10.1-inch became the only mainstream eventually which was too similar to the size of notebook. As a result, netbook’s market share was cannibalized, and faced the bottleneck in its development. On the other hand, iPad touts a 9.7-inch screen, and other tablet companies unveil 7-inch tablets one after another. In the future, it is expected that the competition will be between 7-inch and 9.7-inch display in the tablet market.

 

The advantages that the display sizes transferred from 9.7 inches to 7 inches are that the shift does not only increase the portability, but also splits the tablet segment with the notebook one to develop a whole new market and consumer group. More important is the fact that the smaller the size is, the lower the cost will be, and products with lower pricing will naturally be rolled out to attract more consumer purchase. For 5-inch as well as 10.1-inch and above products, since the individual display sizes are similar to mobile devices and notebooks, their combined market share projection is lower than 5%.

 

Since tablets require wider viewing angle, the industry are after IPS technology recently. IPS technology has better performance against color washout to achieve better viewing angle. However, it was plagued with lower transmissivity, slow response time and power inefficiency. Additionally, IPS manufacturing process required five masks which was one mask more compared to that of the traditional TN and VA technology. Consequently, its panel cost was difficult to fall. WitsView indicated that the development of tablet devices will become more diverse in the future, and IPS technology will be gradually applied mostly on mid- and high-end products.