Acer Inc (宏碁) has no plans to launch any fourth-generation (4G) smartphones using Intel Corp chips this year, despite its current partnership with the US chipmaker in 3G phones.
Instead, the personal computer maker will roll out a lineup of 4G phones using chips from Qualcomm Inc and MediaTek Inc (聯發科), its two major suppliers for 3G phones, the company said earlier this week.
The new Acer 4G phones are due to be available for the Taiwanese market from early next quarter, when the country is expected to begin operations of its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network, Vincent Chen (陳建志), a product manager at Acer’s telecom business department, said on Tuesday at a product launch for the Liquid E3, a mid-tier 3G smartphone.
Chen declined to give specifics as to why Acer will not use Intel chips in the near term, after the two joined hands early last year to launch the 4.3-inch Liquid C1 Android smartphone for emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Thailand.
Intel has been a leading player in the PC industry, but is a relative latecomer to the mobile chip market, which is currently dominated by ARM-based power-efficient chips from Qualcomm and Apple Inc that work better in smartphones and tablets without quickly draining their batteries.
In February, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) unveiled three new smartphones in its budget ZenFone range based on Intel’s Atom chipsets.
However, none of them support 4G LTE.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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