During the key holiday sales seasons in the second half, PC makers such as HP , Dell and Lenovo will also see competition from Microsoft and Google , both of which have recently launched their own tablet PCs. Apple is also expected to unveil the iPhone 5 in October.
Kirk Yang, head of Asia ex-Japan tech hardware research at Barclays, says PC makers’ ability to excite consumers will be key to their success at a time when cutbacks in corporate and government budgets have also been hurting PC sales.
Consumers “don’t have to buy – I’m sure everybody’s PC still works today, everybody’s mobile phone still works today – but they rush out to buy an iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy because it’s something exciting,” said Mr Yang.
So far, it appears that the supply chain is not betting on that happening. For the third quarter, the Taiwanese companies that manufacture more than 90 per cent of the world’s notebook PCs are forecasting an average of 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter unit growth, far below their historic average of 21 per cent growth, says Jenny Lai, an analyst with HSBC.
Economists with HSBC expect overall Asian electronics production will grow just 1.5 per cent in August, below the three-year average of 3.7 per cent growth.
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