Asus's market horoscope for 2014: opportunities with Intel and better than expected smartphone shipments

t appears Asus has been served a happy fortune cookie. According to the company's target shipments for 2014, Asus has to deliver 5 million smartphones. However, unnamed market analysts are optimistic and claim that the Taiwanese maker could ship 8 to 10 million smartphones in 2014. The newly-announced and very aggressively-priced ZenFone models could contribute to a successful completion of their forecast. The three ZenFone smartphones, which feature Intel Atom CPUs, will initially launch in Asian markets, priced between $99 and $199 off-contract.

Other unnamed sources claim that Asus and Intel's partnership will be further materialized by 3 to 4 new Atom-based smartphones, set to launch in the second half of 2014. According to the informants, in its bid to attract manufacturers to its mobile solutions, Intel will be treating Asus to discounts for processors and subsidies for marketing the devices. This probably explains how the Taiwanese maker got the ZenFone prices so low.

If the ZenFones become a success and the two technological players carry on their partnership, we expect more cheap and capable devices to come our way.

source: DigiTimes