Notebook shipments, which are being impacted by tablets, are expected to drop 2.7% on year to reach 167 million units in 2015, but 2-in-1 device shipments are expected to grow 62.5% on year to reach 13 million units due to Microsoft’s aggressive promotions, according to figures from the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC).
The ASP of 2-in-1 devices is expected to reach around US$400, double the amount for ARM-based Android tablets.
Windows 10 is expected to be released in the third quarter, but MIC believes the operating system will have a limited contribution to overall PC demand since consumers will be able to upgrade Windows 8-based products to Windows 10 for free, while the enterprise market already enjoyed a PC replacement trend in 2014.
MIC expects global PC shipments to reach 287 million units, down 5.7% from a year ago and desktop shipments will be around 120 million units, down 9% on year. In 2015, Taiwan’s desktop shipments are estimated to reach 56 million units, down 17.1% on year.
Global tablet shipments in 2015 are expected to reach 214 million units, down 11.5% on year because smartphone sizes have been increasing, which has impacted consumer demand for tablets. Seeing the tablet market almost reaching saturation and under fierce price competition, many white-box vendors have already stepped out of the market and brand vendors have turned to develop 2-in-1 devices.
Since 2-in-1 devices have higher hardware specifications, larger displays and better ASPs compared to traditional tablets, brand vendors are expected to achieve better profits selling 2-in-1s.
In 2015, Taiwan ODMs are expected to ship 80 million tablets, down 18.4% on year.
MIC also expects global server shipments (including motherboards) to reach 10 million units, up 6.7% on year, while Taiwan’s server shipments will reach eight million units, up 1.2% on year.
