Asustek Computer and Lenovo are both eagerly trying to narrow their tablet shipment gaps with the second-largest vendor Samsung Electronics in 2014. However, since Samsung's tablet shipments of 35 million units in 2013 far exceed Asustek's 12 million units and the Korea-based vendor will become more aggressive about the tablet market, some market watchers believe the gap will widen, while Asustek and Lenovo will enter fierce competition for third position.

　　Asustek president Jerry Shen recently said that the company is aiming to stay firmly at number three in the tablet market in 2014, narrowing its gap with Samsung, while widening its distance with Lenovo, at number four.

　　Meanwhile, Lenovo is also set to challenge Samsung's tablet shipments, and through its PC retail channel and sales model, the company expects its tablet shipments to help it become a top-three vendor.

　　Market watchers pointed out that Asustek's 12 million tablet shipments in 2013 have a big portion contributed by Google's Nexus tablet. Although Asustek has been aggressively aiming to raise its in-house tablets to account for 70% of its total shipments in 2014, without Google's Nexus tablets, Asustek's shipments will immediately drop 30%, weakening its competition against Samsung.

　　As for Lenovo, the China-based vendor's recent good sales are contributed mainly by domestic demand, but since most tablet players including white-box vendors, are pushing entry-level pricing to attract demand, Lenovo's expansion into the tablet market is expected to be slow, the market watched said.