Compal lands 90% of Amazon Kindle orders for 2014, leaving only 10% for Quanta - Digitimes

Compal lands 90% of Amazon Kindle orders for 2014, leaving only 10% for Quanta

Aaron Lee, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 15 January 2014]

Amazon has reportedly shifted its entry-level Kindle Fire orders for 2014 from Quanta Computer to Compal Electronics and the entry-level tablet is expected to account for 90% of the US vendor’s total Kindle shipments in 2014, according to sources from the upstream supply chain. Quanta and Compal declined to comment about market speculation.

In 2014, Compal will be handling the entry-level model featuring MediaTek’s solution, while Quanta will be in charge of making high-end models featuring Qualcomm solutions, the sources pointed out.

Amazon was the fifth-largest tablet vendor in 2013 with shipments of 5.45 million units, accounting for 4% of the global volume, according to Digitimes Research’s figures.

Quanta originally expected its tablet shipments to reach 20 million units in 2013, but has already reduced the forecast to about 15 million units because of weaker-than-expected orders for Google tablets, the sources said.

With orders for Apple’s new iPad mini with Retina, which is set to start shipping at the end of the second quarter, and Amazon’s entry-level tablets, Compal’s tablet shipments are expected to surge in 2014, the sources noted.

Although Quanta is said to have landed Apple’s large-size iPad orders, limited volumes mean it is unlikely to help offset the company’s lost orders from Amazon. As a result, Quanta is now aggressively trying to land orders for phablets, which have started becoming popular in Asia, the sources noted.

In 2014, Compal is expected to ship 14 million tablets, double its 2013 volume of seven million units, the sources added.

Some market watchers believe Amazon has a chance of shipping 7-8 million tablets in 2014, but Digitimes Research estimates the company’s shipments to maintain at around 5.5 million units.