Notebooks “bleak” but Ultrabooks may save their souls

Notebooks sales from the likes of HP, Acer and Lenovo are looking at a “bleak” first half in 2013, but Ultrabooks sales will help revive the market in H2, predict analysts IHS iSuppli.

This comes as tablets and smartphones, like the iPhone, continue to eat into other PC categories.

One in 3 PCs sold globally are tablets, like the iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. The market grew a massive 75% to 46.2 million in Q4 alone.

Notebook shipments from the Top 5 ODMs are forecast to slump by 15% to 35.2 million during the first quarter, IHS predicts.

“Notebook ODMs in early 2013 are feeling the pain from the combined impacts of uncertain economic conditions and slower-than-expected sales of Ultrabook PCs,” said Peter Lin, senior analyst at IHS.

And although demand for Ultrabooks and other ultrathins haven’t taken off as expected, “an expected increase in demand for Ultrabooks and other ultrathins will help reignite notebook PC shipments in the second half,” Lin predicts.

Shipments from ODMs will rise 5 percent from 2012 to around164 million units, IHS iSuppli estimates.

Ultrathin notebooks recently released by the likes of Samsung, Toshiba and Asus on Windows 8 are being given a new lease of life with improved battery power, detachable use as a tablet and a higher-performance Intel’s Haswell chip processor.

In Australia, tablets sales doubled those of notebooks in Q4 last, Gfk figures released yesterday show. 

Lin also blames the notebook slowdown on uncertainties in the global economy, and the slowing markets of Europe, China and the US.