Intel PC Group Chief: 10-inch Tablet Will 'Rapidly Erode'

During the Intel Solutions Summit 2013 in Los Angeles Wednesday, Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's PC Client Group, said he believes the 10-inch tablet form factor will "rapidly erode" this year in favor of smaller 7- to 8-inch tablets while larger 10-inch tablets will be incorporated by notebook-tablet hybrids with convertible displays and detachable screens.

Tablets, smartphones and notebooks are beginning to blur together, Skaugen said during his keynote. As a result, Intel is making a hard push in the hybrid Ultrabook space by focusing on touchscreen-based notebooks with either convertible displays or detachable screens. "The biggest trends right now are convertibility and detachability," he said.

[Related: IDC: PC Sales Slowing, Tablets Getting Stronger ]

For example, Intel said larger, 13-inch Ultrabooks will likely have convertible tablet functionality, while smaller 11-inch Ultrabooks will have detachable screens that act as stand-alone tablets.

To emphasize that push, Skaugen said all new Ultrabooks running Intel's fourth-generation Core processor family, codenamed "Haswell," will require touchscreen support. Skaugen said Intel believes the two-for-one value proposition of having a working notebook with a touchscreen tablet will win over both consumers and business users.

Skaugen also said new Haswell-based Ultrabooks will feature not only touchscreen support but also facial recognition and voice recognition technology, faster solid-state drives, slimmer yet more durable chassis, and higher resolution displays.

"You're going to see a ton of innovation here," Skaugen said.

PUBLISHED MARCH 20, 2013