The global notebook market will face more uncertainty in 2016 as Xiaomi Technology and Huawei will debut in the mature market, and Samsung Electronics has also renewed its interest in it, according to industry sources.
As the global notebook market has been dwindling since 2012, Sony released its Vaio brand to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), LG already phased out from the notebook sector, while Samsung withdrew from the European market in 2014. Meanwhile, the notebook business units of Toshiba and Fujitsu are likely to integrate with JIP, according to industry sources.
The official separation of Hewlett-Packard (HP) into two companies in 2015 also highlights the difficulties facing the notebook industry, the sources commented.
Furthermore, Lenovo suffered its first quarterly losses in six years in the third quarter of 2015 due to slower-than-expected sales of its PC products, tablets and smartphones.
Taiwan-based brand Acer is also in tumble due to slow notebook sales, and market analysts have even suggested Acer should merge with Asustek Computer in order to survive in the notebook space.
But while many are leaving, some are entering it. Xiaomi is expected to launch its first notebook model in the first half of 2016, which will be powered by an Intel CPU (2014 model) and run on Linux OS, targeting the CNY1,999 (US$308) segment, indicated the sources.
Samsung has set up again an independent PC business unit recently, eyeing possible replacement demand in 2016. But it remains to be seen if its notebook shipments will pick up gain, said the sources.
