Taipei, April 17 (CNA) Sales of personal computers (PC) in Taiwan increased 5 percent to 1.64 million units in 2011 thanks to continued demand for large-screen laptops, according to a survey released Tuesday by Germany-based market researcher GfK Group.

Sales of desktops and laptops in Taiwan last year were worth NT$29.5 billion (US$1 billion), with desktops registering a 2 percent annual growth and laptops rising 6 percent, the survey showed.

Taiwanese consumers bought nearly 73,000 more PCs in 2011 than in 2010, according to the poll. Laptops constituted 62 percent of all PC sales last year and remained the key driver of Taiwan's PC market, it found.

"Last year saw an influx of several new entry-level, large-screen laptops being introduced in the Taiwanese market," Lydia Huang, general manager of GfK Taiwan, said in a press release.

"Intense competition among manufacturers vying for the consumer dollar lowered the average price of 15-inch laptops from NT$24,630 (US$835) to NT$21,740 and made the products more appealing and affordable to local consumers," she said.

According to GfK Taiwan, local consumers bought over 1 million laptop units valued at around NT$20 billion in 2011, and retail tracking revealed a significant jump in the uptake of laptops with larger screen sizes.

The most popular were those with 14-inch screens, accounting for 31 percent of the total laptops sold in 2011, the research firm said.

However, signs of users upgrading to even larger screen sizes have become evident as 15-inch models, which made up only 17 percent of total laptop sales in 2010, accounted for over 29 percent of sales last year, it added.

GfK Taiwan's findings in January and February this year also indicated a continued upward growth of 14-inch and larger laptops, which reached a market share of 63 percent in February.

"It is quite clear that current trending will persist with more PC users converting to higher-end, lightweight notebooks," Huang said.

"We can definitely anticipate a wider range, with next generation central processing units available in the market whetting the appetites of consumers," she said.

(By Jeffrey Wu)
ENDITEM /pc