Although Asustek Computer only shipped around 4.2 million notebooks in the first quarter, the company's profits remained strong thanks to increased product ASP, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Asustek has been shifting its focus to models with higher gross margins such as 2-in-1 devices, its ultra-thin ZenBook-series and gaming notebooks. Since the company's new projects are mainly models that are priced above NT$30,000 (US$979) and gaming models priced above NT$50,000 or even NT$100,000, the number of inexpensive models has dropped dramatically in the past few quarters and impacted Asustek's overall shipments.

Asustek shipped 19 million notebooks in 2015, down from 20.3 million units in 2014 and the volume is expected to have dropped another one million units on year in 2016. However, despite the drop, Asustek's profits in 2016 were at about the same level as in 2015, showing Asustek's strategy is working effectively.

Although Asustek has achieved some progresses in the consumer sector, the company is still facing difficulties to expand in the enterprise sector, making it Asustek's biggest vulnerability against first-tier vendors such as Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell.

Asustek has been strengthening its enterprise product portfolio since the second half of 2016, looking to land procurement orders in China and Taiwan.