Ultrabook expected to find sweet spot in market in 1H13

Aaron Lee, Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES 7 August 2012

With Intel unveiling its latest development for the upcoming next-generation Haswell processors at its symposiums, the PC supply chain is now placing high hopes on the processors and expect the processor will allow ultrabooks to become thinner and satisfy consumers' mobile demands, creating an ultrabook sales sweet spot in 2013.

The Haswell processors will integrate a CPU with the chipset and adopt a system on chip (SoC) design to save even more space and allow the device to be designed to be even lighter, while power consumption during idling will also drop more than 20 fold compared to existing processors.

Since Intel still has no plans to reduce processor prices plus the licensing fee for Windows 8 PC brand vendors are expected to still be unable to compete against Apple's MacBook in 2012 since they have no advantages in pricing; however, the situation may change in the first half of 2013 after Intel releases its Haswell processors.

Intel is also expecting a new wave of ultrabook shipment growth starting in August as vendors will start shipping new ultrabooks in August to compete for the back-to-school demand in October, while the devices' screen sizes will also increase from only 11- and 13-inch to 14- to 15-inch, to give consumers more choices and increase demand.