Shen stressed that the company is looking to add a second chip maker for its ZenFone series in an effort to double smartphone shipments next year. He revealed that the second chip supplier will help Asus to produce affordable ZenFone 2 handsets priced at as low as NTD 4,990 (Rs. 10,000 approximately). The current ZenFone series include chipsets from Intel and start at as low as Rs. 5,999 for the ZenFone 4 in India. Unfortunately, Shen declined to name the second chip maker.
The company plans to introduce variants of the second-platform ZenFone 2 series smartphones early next year with two of the biggest Chinese carriers - China Mobile Ltd and China Telecom Corp, while the other models will be designed for the global markets, as per Shen. Notably, the smartphones due at CES 2015 will be the Intel-powered ones.
Focus Taiwan quotes Shen to say, "All of the new phones scheduled for release at the annual trade show will be powered by Intel Corp. chips and will support 4G LTE connectivity."
"LTE-enabled phones will account for about 30 percent-40 percent of Asustek's total smartphone shipments in 2015," Shen added.
Shen seemingly also revealed that the ZenFone 2 series powered by Intel chipsets and supporting 4G LTE will start at NTD 9,990 (Rs. 20,000 approximately). Considering the current price range of current ZenFone series smartphones in India, we assume that its successors will be priced on the higher side.
The Taiwanese handset maker estimates that it will ship 8 million smartphones this year and 16 million next year. It intends to double its smartphone shipments with availability of its ZenFone series to about 20 markets from currently 14 this year. Shen claimed that the company will focus more on China and Japan.
In India, Asus had announced India sales of its recently launched ZenFone smartphone series would surpass 2,00,000 units by the end of September. The company later added it had managed to sell 2,80,000 ZenFone units in India in Q3.
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