White Box Tablet Vendors See Strong 40.4% YoY Growth In Q3 2013

Digitimes reports that Chinese white-box tablet vendors have seen very strong growth in 2013. Compared to the same Q3 period of 2012, shipments for Q3 of 2013 are up 40.4%. Compared to the last quarter, Q2 of 2013, shipments are up a staggering 56.3%. The majority of these shipments from Chinese white-box vendors travel overseas with approximately 80% of them leaving China for overseas destinations.

Unsurprisingly 7 inch form factor white-box tablets dominated sales, the AMPE A78 pictured above is just one of thousands of different 7 inch white-box Chinese made tablets available for global purchase from sites like FocalPrice and DealeXtreme. 8 inch (and larger) form factor tablets saw disappointing results mainly due to the poor and comparatively expensive supply of larger displays.

In the white-box market profit margins on tablets have apparently reached a rock-bottom point. Prices can only go one way from now, which is up, and many firms have already been eliminated from the white-box market because the competition has been so strong.

In terms of component choices MediaTek CPUs still dominate the majority of tablets accounting for 70% of all white-box tablets. MediaTek CPUs replace the previously favoured Chinese AllWinner and Rockchip CPUs which have started to decline in response to vendors choosing cheaper MediaTek parts.

Image courtesy of AMPE (FocalPrice)