WASHINGTON: Amazon saw tablet shipments rise a whopping 5421.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, a new study shows, amid a sharp decline for the overall market. The e-commerce giant shipped 2.2 million tablets in the first three months of 2016, compared to around 40,000 in the same time last year, helped by its low cost Fire tablet, according to the analysis firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
“The low-cost Fire tablet is certainly not the first of its kind, but its success speaks to Amazon’s prowess as a household brand and a distribution powerhouse,” IDC said in a press release on Thursday. But there is one major caveat. “Though the year-over-year growth is an astronomical 5421.7 percent, it is important to note that Amazon’s 1Q15 lineup featured a 6 inch tablet which was not counted by IDC as it did not meet the requirements of our taxonomy,” the research firm said. The six inch tablet is the Amazon Fire HD 6 which was not counted as it did not meet IDC’s requirements for a “tablet”.
