On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

The global tablet market is down by -5% Y-o-Y in Q2 2019 IDC reports, as shipments total 32.2 million units, down from the 33.9m units of Q2 2018. Apple remains leader of the tablet market, thanks to the launch of the latest iPad Air.

Apple is one of the 2 vendors in the top 5 (with the other being Amazon) to see growth in Q2 2019. iPad shipments are up by 6.1% Y-o-Y, reaching 12.3m units, while market share sees an increase of 4 percentage points over Q2 2018 to 38.1%. As mentioned earlier the iPad Air helped bring growth, particularly in detachable tablets, while shipments of the regular slate iPad are down by -7.5% Y-o-Y as they fail to maintain the momentum of upgrades seen in 2018.

Marantz announces the NR1200, a 75W-per-channel (8ohms, 20Hz-20kHz, 0.08% THD) HDMI stereo receiver with a circuit design featuring separate, symmetrical left and right power amplifier blocks.

The power transformer is wired independently to the circuits of the amplifier, preamplifier, tuner and front display, a setup Marantz says improves channel separation, reduces crosstalk and preserves audio purity.

The NR1200 includes x5 HDMI inputs, each with HDCP 2.3, 4K Ultra HD 60Hz video, 4:4:4 Pure Color sub-sampling, HLG, High Dynamic Range (HDR10), 21:9 video, 3D and BT.2020 pass-through support. Plus, ARC (Audio Return Channel) supports the transmission of audio from the TV with a single HDMI cable, simplifying overall setup. The HDMI inputs automatically rename themselves based on information from the source.

According to Gartner, global smartphone sales are to total 1.5 billion units in 2019, a -2.5% decline-- but the market should return to growth in 2020, thanks to the broader availability of 5G models and related service packages.

W. Europe is to see the second worst decline (-5.3%) in smartphone sales, following Japan (-6.5%). All mature markets face an oversupplied and commoditised smartphone market, with higher ASPs and no compelling utility or experiences for users to upgrade to. While high-end smartphone ASP increases have slowed down recently, vendors relying on replacement smartphone sales are still facing tough times.

Swedish furniture retailer IKEA announces the availability of the first results of its partnership with Sonos-- specifically the Symfonisk-brand shelf speaker and table lamp/speaker combo.

First launched at Milan Design Week 2019, the Symfonisk audio ranged is designed to "democratise the home sound system." Like other Sonos speakers, the Symfonisk offerings support wifi and AirPlay 2 connectivity, and pair with both the wider Sonos ecosystem and, in case of the table lamp/speaker, the IKEA Tradfri connected light bulb system.