TAIPEI: Asustek Computer Inc slid by one spot to become the fourth-most popular tablet maker in western Europe during the second quarter as vendor dynamics evolved, according to tech research firm International Data Corp (IDC).
In the April-June period, Asustek shipped 388,000 tablets to western Europe to take a 5.2 percent market share, losing its third-place position to China’s Lenovo Group Ltd , which shipped 394,000 tablets during the quarter.
Asustek’s second-quarter tablet shipments in the region contracted strongly by 30.1 percent from a year earlier as the Taiwanese vendor prepared for the renewal of its product range, IDC said in an Aug. 14 report.
In the second quarter of last year, Asustek took a 7.3 percent share of the western Europe tablet market and Lenovo accounted for a 5.2 percent share. Based on IDC figures, the West European tablet market stabilized in the second quarter of this year, with total shipments contracting annually by 1.2 percent to reach 7.5 million units.
This small decline, which was the softest since the downturn started at the beginning of last year, resulted from the combined effect of persistent weak demand for consumer tablets and increasing interest in 2-in-1 detachable notebooks and commercial tablets, IDC said.
Samsung Electronics Co shipped about 2.02 million tablets in the western Europe market in the second quarter for a 26.8 percent share, followed by Apple Inc with a 24.8 percent share.
Microsoft Corp also entered the top five vendor ranking.
