More uncertainty for laptop market in 2016

DigiTimes heard rumors that more uncertainty is ahead for the global laptop market in 2016. Next year, the notebook market will see the debut of Xiaomi and Huawei, and Samsung reportedly also has a renewed interest in it. The laptop market has been struggling for a couple of years and the arrival of new, low-cost players likely means more hurt for the established players.

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.

The site also writes some market analysts are pushing Acer to merge with Asustek in order to survive in the laptop market.