Ultrabooks & MacBook Air Market To Grow At 92% Compound Annual Growth Rate – TechSci Research

Ultrabooks are expected to boost sales in the segment of where only Apple MacBook Air existed until recently, according to the recently published report: “Global Ultrathin Portables (Ultrabooks & MacBook Air) Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2017,” by TechSci Research.

The report observes that PC Ultrabooks are mounting a challenge in the ultraportable computer segment where heretofore only Apple’s MacBook Air existed as a lightweight, ultraportable, thin, high performance notebook. Intel initiated, and is backing and pushing the Ultrabook specification, which has defined physical design and internal specifications with an entry-level price target lower than the cheapest MacBook Air.

Six players launched Ultrabooks within 6 months of Intel’s announcement of the Ultrabook formula, and some 10 models of Ultrabooks are now on the market. With this increasing availability of choices for the consumers at more affordable prices, the MacBook Air/Ultrabook class is expected to be the central focus of the laptop computer market for the foreseeable future. Combined together, the global Ultrathin Portables market was around US$ 6.04 Billion in 2011. While Smartphones have captured the biggest market share in the global computing devices market recently, they are not in direct competition with Apple MacBook Air or Intel’s Ultrabooks.

TechSci Research predicts that the market for lightweight ultraportable notebooks will expand enormously in the coming years. Globally, the Ultrabooks and MacBook Air Market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 92 percent till 2017. The report notes that Apple is still popularly perceived to be a luxury brand, and PC Ultrabooks less so. However TechSci Research predicts that the entire market size for Ultrathin Portables will increase as a greater number of retailers enter the market offering competitive products at competitive prices.

This move is expected to decrease the average Ultrabook selling price which was around US$960 in 2011. Acer was the first player to launch an Ultrabook as per Intel’s specifications. Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo, LG and HP have followed suit. TechSci Research observes that Apple’s strategy of winning on profit margin instead of raw sales volume has restricted the pool of potential buyers for the MacBook Air and thus, the market’s overall size until recently, since it was essentially the only player. However, with the entry of Ultrabooks, the ultrathin portables category is expected to represent up to 61 percent of the global computing devices market by 2017.

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