Asustek Computer aims to ship at least one million smartphones in 2013 and reach breakeven for smartphone operations in the second half of the year, while Acer aims to ship 1.5 million smartphones in 2013 and expects business operations to break even in 2014, according to market watchers.

　　Compared to its one million PadFone product shipments in 2012, Asustek is trying to maintain its shipment performance in 2013 with its PadFone Infinity, launched in the second quarter of 2013, and new high-end smartphones, which are set to launch in August or September.

　　Although Asustek chairman Jonney Shih previously revealed that the company is set to enter the US market in 2014, but due to its limited shipment scale, the company may have trouble attracting large telecom carriers for cooperation.

　　Acer is mainly focusing on the entry-level segment, but the company is still facing strong competition. The company's 5.7-inch Liquid S1 smartphone featuring MediaTek's quad-core processor, and 8-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front cameras, priced at NT$12,900 (US$431), is expected to achieve strong sales in Taiwan, but in Europe, the US and emerging markets such as China, the smartphone has few advantages over the competition, the market watchers said.

　　In China, the top-four local vendors ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad and Lenovo, each shipped about 10 million smartphones in the second quarter, and Xiaomi shipped about seven million units. These local players, in addition to Apple, Samsung, HTC and white-box smartphone vendors, are all strong competitors to Acer and Asustek, noted the market watchers citing figures from research firms.

　　In the second quarter, Samsung shipped 70 million smartphones worldwide, accounting for 30% of global shipments, while LG shipped 12 million units, ranking third, the market watchers added.