INTENT on securing a share in the growing smartphone marker and buffering itself from the declining personal computer (PC) shipment, Acer Philippines Inc. recently launched its Windows 8.1 smartphone. Called the Acer Liquid M220, Marketing Director Agnes Espino said the 4-inch smartphone is upgradeable to Windows 10 for free.
“Acer continues to provide fresh and innovative products relevant to buyers’ needs beyond PCs,” Espino told the BusnessMirror.
Research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) recently said it expected 2015 PC shipments to fall 8.7 percent, steeper than its earlier forecast due to a large inventory of notebooks and the impact of a strong dollar. It earlier estimated a 6.2-percent decline.
According to Espino, her company see the opportunity in the Philippines’s steadily growing smartphone market and are focusing as well on this product category, adding that “growth is, likewise, expected in the coming years,” for the product.
In terms of hardware, the Liquid M220 uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 chipset paired with a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor. Its power is further boosted by its 4-gigabyte internal memory and 512-megabyte RAM.
Espino also said that specifically, the phone target students, with the sticker price of P2,490. The phone has a bright 4-inch display with 233ppi screen resolution, 5-megapixel main camera (with autofocus and LED flash), 2MP front-facing camera, and micro-SD and Dual SIM slots into an attractive package.
Asked on their edge over their closest competitor, the company official said Acer “offers value for money products; we offer products for different market and or buyers’ needs.”
She also said that despite decline in PC shipments, Acer continues to be the market leader in notebooks, citing IDC data.
IDC expects PC shipments to start growing again in 2017 led by the commercial market, with consumer shipments continuing to decline through the end of 2019, adding it expects the second quarter of this year to be a transition period as vendors prepare for Windows 10 systems in the second half of the year.
The 2016 shipments are expected to be hurt by economic issues, free upgrades of Windows 10 and less new models.