New laptop-tablet hybrid computers and Chromebook laptops running Google Inc’s operating system are set to take center stage at the annual Computex technology fair next week in Taipei, CIMB Securities Ltd (聯昌證券) said in a research note yesterday.
The two-in-one hybrid devices and the Chromebooks are attracting attention because of Microsoft Corp’s decision to lower the licensing fees for its Windows operating system for partner manufacturers and Google’s intention to penetrate the PC segment, Taipei-based CIMB analysts Wang Wanli (王萬里) and Felix Pan (潘俊宏) said in the note.
The new notebooks are likely to become new growth drivers in the PC sector in the second half of the year, amid weakening corporate PC replacement demand due to Microsoft ending its support for the Windows XP operating system, they said.
“After Microsoft’s Windows licensing-fee cut, average selling prices for the two-in-one hybrid notebook (US$350) and Android tablets (US$250) with a keyboard are about the same. This makes the hybrid notebook more competitive,” Wang and Pan said. “For consumers who are more familiar with the Windows interface for content creation, it is a good choice.”
The analysts said Chromebooks, which have an average selling price of about US$250, would find adoption in the education and consumer segments in mature markets during the second half this year, thanks to growing support by more top-tier notebook vendors.
“A well-developed broadband environment and cloud services are required to make the best use of a Chromebook,” Wang and Pan said.
Overall, CIMB forecast an increase of 7.3 percent for notebook computer shipments in the second half from the first half, which should be the trough for the sector since 2008. However, for the whole of this year, total notebook shipments would still be 3.7 percent lower than last year, the brokerage said.
Moreover, tablet computer demand may have reached saturation levels and this could be the first year of decline for Apple Inc’s iPad shipments, it said.
CIMB forecast that iPad shipments would drop by an annual rate of 10 percent this year, while Android-based tablet shipments may grow by a weaker 16 percent this year, compared with a 66 percent annual increase last year.
“Right now, only low-end tablets still boast strong sales,” Wang and Pan said. “However, tablet pricing is declining more quickly and not many vendors can make money in this environment of intensified competition.”
Computex Taipei is to take place at the Taipei World Trade Center’s Exhibition Halls 1 and 3, the Nangang Exhibition Hall and the Taipei International Convention Center from Tuesday to Saturday next week.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by