Amazon’s Kindle Fire shipments may already have hit five million if rumors are accurate. Quanta, known to be the contractor for the Android tablet, was said by Digitimes sources to have already moved three million to four million so far with another million either by the end of December or early January. Touchscreen panel builder Wintek has had to up its own production to between three million and 3.5 million, although it’s likely not exclusive.
Quanta wouldn’t confirm the details.
The figures don’t represent actual sales and could be more anticipatory. Amazon has said it had to ship “millions more” Kindle Fires than first planned, but a visit to the product page shows that it’s still in stock, showing none of the shortages common to runaway sales.
Demand is still strong enough that the Kindle Fire at least briefly topped the 16GB iPad 2 for sales at Best Buy. Amazon may unintentionally become the largest Android tablet designer by a wide margin, and second overall to Apple.