A new generation of ‘two-in-one’ laptops is set to make tablets obsolete, according to Intel.
Tom Kilroy, executive vice-president of the chipmaker, said he believed PCs still have a future in the face of vociferous competition from mobile devices, despite the lukewarm reception of Microsoft’s Windows 8 software.
Citing figures suggesting 80 per cent of laptop owners would replace their device with another laptop, despite owning a newer tablet, Kilroy said that the ‘two-in-one’ concept would prove the industries salvation.
Kilroy said: “The days of carrying around a smartphone a tablet and a notebook are numbered – the discrete tablet as we know it will go by the wayside and the 2-in-1 will be the future. If you’re doing content creation it just doesn’t happen on the phone.
“If Windows 8 had had a better take up I think we would have seen an increase in the notebook [sales overall]; the fact that it was more of a modest launch means the recovery is just a year later.”