NEW YORK — U.S. tablet shipments fell in the first quarter because Apple cut shipments by 41 percent to offset channel buildup caused by strong seasonal shipments in the previous quarter, Canalys said.
But you can expect shipments to pick up for a variety of reasons, including an expanded selection from LG and T-Mobile’s plans to build its tablet selection by adding the latest Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet with LTE.
In addition, value-priced tablets are also becoming more powerful.
More important for future growth, Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling contended tablets will withstand competition from big-screen smart phones because “consumers, and increasingly businesses, are continuing to adapt, with tablets acting as disruptors and finding their place as desktop and notebook replacements.”
Here’s what suppliers announced to stoke the market:
Archos unveiled its first Android-powered tablet with integrated fold-out keyboard. The company calls the $169 Google-certified ArcBook a netbook because of the keyboard and included Office Suite Pro 6, which creates and edits Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files.
E Fun’s first quad-core Android tablet, the Nextbook 8 at $99, rolled out through Walmart stores nationwide and Walmart.com. Additional distribution is in the works.
LG reentered the tablet market late last year with a single $349 8.3-inch model, and now it plans to expand its selection with three new models in 7-, 8- and 10.1-inch sizes.
Full details and regional availability dates for the Android tablets will be announced in the coming weeks. Like the current model, the new tablets offer LG’s proprietary QPair 2.0 and Knock Code UI features.
The current tablet launched with Android 4.2.2 OS, 1.7GHz quad-core CPU, 8.3-inch FullHD display, 2GB RAM and 16GB embedded memory.
T-Mobile will build up its tablet selection with plans to join Verizon in offering the 2014 edition of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet with 4G LTE. The carrier didn’t specify pricing or an availability date.
