On October 31st last year, Huawei and Apple held their respective product launch events on the same day, going head-to-head in categories like computers and smartphones. On May 7th this year, Huawei and Apple once again engaged in a "duel of the titans," this time fiercely competing in the tablet market.
On the evening of May 7th, Apple hosted a special "Spring Forward" product launch event, unveiling the new iPad Pro featuring the latest M4 chip. On the same day, Huawei held an innovation product launch event in Dubai, introducing the new MatePad tablet and other products. In addition to hardware, Huawei also unveiled its self-developed tablet drawing software "Born to Draw App," further enhancing its tablet competitiveness.
Apple vs. Huawei - Tablet Showdown
During the May 7th event, Apple introduced the new iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro, Apple's flagship tablet, received its first update in over a year.
According to Apple, the new iPad Pro is powered by the M4 chip, an upgrade from the previous M2 chip, boasting up to a 50% increase in CPU speed compared to the previous generation.
Apple stated that the M4 chip, built on TSMC's 3nm process, focuses on enhancing AI performance by upgrading the neural engine. This enhancement accelerates machine learning tasks such as video analysis, speech recognition, and image processing. The neural engine makes the M4 a powerful chip for AI applications.
The new iPad Pro starts at 8,999 yuan for the 11-inch model and 11,499 yuan for the 13-inch model, with pre-orders starting on May 9th at 9 a.m. and availability on May 15th.
In addition, Apple unveiled the new iPad Air, available in 11-inch and 13-inch versions, also equipped with the new M2 chip. The new iPad Air starts at 4,799 yuan for the 11-inch model and 6,499 yuan for the 13-inch model.
At the event, Apple also introduced the new Apple Pencil Pro. This stylus, featuring built-in sensors and a custom haptic engine, accurately captures users' subtle movements, providing precise strokes and feedback for actions like tapping, tilting, haptic feedback, and hovering. The Apple Pencil Pro is priced at 999 yuan and will be available on May 15th.
During the event, Apple's CEO Tim Cook remarked, "This is a milestone for the iPad since its inception."
On the same day Apple celebrated its "iPad milestone," Huawei unveiled the MatePad 11.5-inch S tablet in Dubai, featuring a soft light eye-care screen and support for the M-Pencil Starshine stylus.
The Huawei MatePad 11.5-inch S tablet runs on HarmonyOS 4.2, supports Starshine technology, and is equipped with a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. The MatePad 11.5-inch S model with a soft light screen utilizes anti-glare nano-etching technology to eliminate 99% of interference light, reducing reflection by 60% and effectively reducing screen glare and visual fatigue.
In addition to hardware enhancements, Huawei introduced a new self-developed drawing software called "Born to Draw App." This software, meticulously crafted by Huawei's professional team, offers a variety of brush options and smart features to enhance the MatePad's drawing capabilities.
Huawei's tablets are now competing comprehensively with Apple in software, hardware, and system aspects, steadily increasing their market share. A report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed that in the fourth quarter of 2023, Huawei captured 30.8% of the Chinese tablet market share, surpassing Apple to become the top brand in terms of tablet shipments for the first time since 2010.
Gan Miao, Senior Research Manager at IDC China, stated that the technological trends in the Chinese tablet industry will focus on enhancing system software capabilities, utilizing AI-generated technology based on AIGC, and introducing more intelligent system-level products.
Screen Iterations Drive Industry Chain Opportunities
Currently, the global tablet market is gradually recovering. According to Canalys, a technology market analysis firm, in the first quarter of 2024, global tablet shipments increased by 1% year-on-year to reach 33.7 million units, marking the first growth after four consecutive quarters of decline.
Himani Mukka, Research Manager at Canalys, mentioned that after a challenging 2023, the tablet industry started 2024 on a positive note. Sales issues in the latter half of the year are expected to further improve. Despite consumers' long-term cautious spending on tablets, manufacturers remain confident. New players are investing in the sector, while leading companies continue to innovate to stimulate consumer interest and drive new use cases.
In the tablet market, Apple and Huawei are experiencing a trend of "one declining, one rising" in shipments. According to Canalys data for the first quarter of 2024, Apple led the global tablet market with 12 million units shipped, holding a 36% market share. Huawei ranked third, shipping 2.735 million units with an 8.1% market share. Looking at the changes in shipment volumes, Apple's shipments decreased by 13.9% in the first quarter, while Huawei's tablet shipments grew by 70.2%. From the perspective of the Chinese market, IDC believes that with the clearance of mainstream brand inventories, driven by global technology trends such as AI and the impact of manufacturers' new product release plans, the Chinese tablet market is expected to see growth by 2024.
The new iPad Pro launched by Apple this time is equipped with an OLED screen, which has also created new opportunities in the industry chain. Canalys believes that Apple's use of OLED screens on the iPad Pro signifies a significant shift in display technology preferences among top manufacturers in the tablet market.
A research report from TF Securities indicates that the sales of iPads with OLED screens by Apple in 2024 are expected to become a testing ground for the IT product OLED market, potentially leading other manufacturers to gradually mass-produce OLED screen tablets.
According to Omdia data, the shipment volume of OLED panels for laptops reached 12.9 million units in 2023, with 7.7 million units for notebooks and 5.2 million units for tablets. The penetration rate of OLED in laptops is expected to reach 14% by 2028.
It is understood that both tablets and laptops require medium-sized OLED panels. In the production process of medium-sized OLED panels, foreign particles have a greater impact on product yield, leading to higher prices due to lower yield rates. The high prices have hindered the increase in the penetration rate of medium-sized OLEDs, which is also a major reason why OLED laptops and tablets have not gained as much market share as LED laptops and tablets in the past. However, with technological iterations, the yield of medium-sized OLEDs continues to improve, coupled with the rapid deployment of 8.6th generation OLED panel production lines for medium-sized production, reducing the cost of medium-sized OLEDs and demonstrating stronger market competitiveness.
In terms of the industry chain, the OLED industry chain upstream includes material manufacturing, equipment manufacturing, and assembly parts, the midstream mainly consists of panel manufacturing, and the downstream includes various terminal applications. Investment in OLED manufacturers often focuses on equipment, which will stimulate market space for equipment. According to Guotou Securities research report, OLED equipment is the main cost source for OLED panels. In terms of cost structure, OLED equipment accounts for the highest proportion of costs in the entire industry chain, reaching 35.4%.
Specifically, OLED equipment is divided into front-end equipment, mid-end equipment, and back-end equipment. Among them, front-end equipment mainly includes film formation, exposure, etching, stripping, cleaning, testing, and other equipment, mid-end equipment mainly includes vapor deposition, deposition, packaging, and other equipment, and back-end equipment mainly includes chip bonding, lamination, testing, and other equipment.
TF Securities research report states that compared to front-end and mid-end equipment, the technical threshold for back-end equipment is lower, making it likely to achieve domestic substitution the fastest. Among domestic back-end equipment manufacturers, there are suppliers of bonding equipment like LianDe Equipment and Zhiyun Technology, suppliers of bonding equipment like LianDe Equipment and Zhiyun Technology, and suppliers of testing equipment like Jingce Electronics and Huaxing Yuanchuang.
Edited by: Zhu Yumeng
Proofread by: Wang Wei
