Asustek Reportedly Raises Tablet PC Shipment Forecast to 5 M. Units for 2012
2012/07/24 | By Steve ChuangTaipei, July 24, 2012 (CENS)--Witnessing popularity of Nexus 7, a tablet PC jointly developed with Google, Asustek Computer Inc., a globally leading PC brand vendor, has allegedly raised its overall tablet PC shipment forecast for 2012 to 5 million units from 3 million units predicted earlier, according to institutional investors.
Launched earlier than Apple Inc.'s iPad Mini and Amazon's Kindle Fire 2 and featuring a satisfactory performance-price tradeoff, Nexus 7 is sought-after by consumers in the U.S., with sales of the product widely estimated to reach 2 million units in the third quarter of this year alone. This hence boosts Asustek's confidence of achieving tablet PC shipment of 5 million units for the whole year.
In addition to Google and Asustek, institutional investors indicated that hot sales of Nexus 7 are also a good news to related parts and components suppliers in Taiwan, including Quanta Computer Inc., the contract assembler of the device; Azurewave Technologies Inc., the wireless network module supplier; Simplo Technology Co., Ltd. and Celxpert Energy Corp., both the suppliers of Nexus 7's battery modules; Ju Teng International Holdings Ltd., a PC housing maker, and Wintek Corp., the supplier of touch panels.
Noteworthily, Hanstar Display Corp., a Taiwanese small and medium-sized display panel maker, is said to have just joined the supply chain of Nexus 7 and will start delivery of FFS (fringe field switching) technology-based panels in August, noted industry insiders.
To Asustek, 2012 is undoubtedly an auspicious year, as the company, with hot-selling Nexus 7 and Transformer, is expected to be a strong contender against Samsung in the race for the world's No.1 supplier of non-iPad tablet PCs. Furthermore, the Taiwanese PC vendor is also optimistic about attaining laptop shipment of about 22 million units in the year, for a 15% growth over a year ago, which will set the company apart from most of its peers who will suffer from shipment declines.