Ultrabooks was Intel’s way of reinventing the notebook and giving consumers a good arguement for buying a new computer. Fresh numbers show that ultrabooks are increasing in the upper price segments and grow steadily.
NPD Group have presented numbers for the growth of ultrabooks on the American market and we see a continued breakthrough in ”premium markets” with prices of 700 dollar and upward, where ultrabooks make up 11 percent of the sales in the first five months. The sale of Windows-based computers are down by an overall 17 percent, but in the premium for 700 dollar and up, it is instead up by 3 percent thanks to the new category. For computers with a retail price of 900 dollar and up the growth is 39 percent year-to-year.
Ultrabooks steadily increasing in the upper price segments
Even if the market is slowing down, it points to that consumers are willing pay more for Windows-based notebooks than before. ASP (Average Selling Price) for ultrabooks will continue to be high as the average price started at 927 dollar, and have only dropped marginally to 885 dollar in May. This can be compared to the Windows-market as a whole where the ASP is at 510 dollar.
”Ultrabooks have helped establish a market for more premium-priced Windows notebooks at retail. The share of sales that the $700+ notebook segment represents jumped from about 12 percent in 2011 to nearly 14 percent in 2012 as a result of the solid market acceptance Ultrabooks have gained. Consumers continue to respond positively to finally being offered stylish, thinner, and more premium device offerings than ever before within the Windows ecosystem.”, Stephen Baker, VP of The NPD Group.
The company believes that ultrabooks will get a bigger upswing toward the school start, which is a strong selling period for computers. Especially when models around 699 dollar are starting to appear. And later this year Intel hopes the prices will come down further to only 599 dollar. NPD thinks the big upswing for ultrabooks will be the more expensive models that will arrive in Q4 with Window 8, touch screens and convertible formfactors.
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