It should be a jolly Christmas for PC buyers, because an excess of chips will likely lead to discounts, according to analysts.
An excess supply of Intel processors purchased this summer, combined with ambitions at Advanced Micro Devices to increase its market share, could lead to price cuts of as much as 10 percent on computers over the next three months.
Is the mainstream market going to see that US$100 PC that everyone has been talking about? Not quite yet, said Current Analysis senior analyst Toni Duboise. "All I can say is, watch the promotions... what you will see are extremely aggressive prices."
Potentially, the situation could lead to promotional prices of $199 for entry-level desktops with an Intel Celeron or AMD Sempron processor, 256MB of RAM, a hard drive with at least 40GB, and Windows Home Edition in the package. The PC would also be bundled with a 17-inch CRT display and, possibly, a printer, Duboise said. Approximately 18 percent of the desktops selling at retail at this moment are priced at less than US$500 after rebate, she added.
"Where the inventory glut is more likely to play a role is in the mid-to-high-end space, where manufacturers have a little more wiggle room to drop prices and simply take a reduction in profit margin rather than a loss in the value space," she said.
Laptop prices are also expected to decrease, Duboise said, noting that retailers started advertising notebooks with Intel's Celeron mobile processors at promotional prices of US$499 last year. And these days, a sub-US$1,000 notebook with Intel's higher-end Centrino processor is more the norm than the exception.
While there was a 12 percent drop in the average selling price of a mainstream desktop PC, from US$735 in the summer of 2004 to US$647 in the summer of 2005, PC makers are expected to be more selective about their baseline prices and draw people in with promotional offers.
Midrange and high-end desktops and notebook PCs would have even more wiggle room, according to Duboise, meaning that mainstream PCs with Intel's Pentium 4 or AMD's Athlon 64 chip, 512 RAM and 80GB or 100GB hard drive could see price drops of 10 percent to about US$583. Entry-level Media Center PCs with integrated graphics cards from ATI Technologies could also see price reductions, from US$599 to US$539, the analyst said.
Not including mail-in rebates, the average selling price for a mainstream desktop PC sold by a bricks-and-mortar retailer (offering brands such as Hewlett-Packard, Gateway and Sony) was about US$719 in September 2005, according to Current Analysis. The average Athlon 64 system retailed for about US$633, well under the US$845 average price for a desktop equipped with a Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading, a performance-enhancing feature that helps a processor compute multiple tasks. Desktop computers with a Celeron D chip came in with the lowest prices, with an average price tag of US$446.
One of the most expensive components of a computer is the processor. Average list prices for mainstream chips range from US$100 to US$200, depending on their configuration. Intel sells direct to computer manufacturers--purchase prices are negotiated in advance, are significantly below list and not subject to huge price swings.
Dell, which uses Intel chips exclusively, has offered a rapid series of price cuts in the last 12 months, including those for desktop PCs, which are priced as low as US$299, and for laptops, which sell for about US$499.
The AMD factor
A recent push by AMD to sell its Athlon 64 and Turion processors could also prompt additional price cuts by Intel or PC makers in the next three months, analysts said.
AMD hit a milestone when desktops equipped with its Athlon processors accounted for 52 percent of all desktops sold in retail outlets in the U.S. during the back-to-school selling season, according to Current Analysis statistics. The 64-bit Turion mobile chip also is moving well.
"It takes about seven to nine months to see how successful a chip is selling in the market," In-Stat principal analyst Jim McGregor said. "From a time a product has gotten out, computer makers need to test the chip and then there is a period of time where it needs to get used by the public. Well, for AMD, it's been nine months, and Turion is doing well."
Intel is expected to launch price cuts on its Pentium Extreme processors and other chips in January, according to a confidential Intel road map seen by CNET News.com. The document did not specify any expected price cuts
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Intel is looking to leap frog so the next milestone isn't this buying season but rather next summer.
Posted by anonymous on Monday, October 24 2005 06:35 PM