Acer Teases Potentially Big Plans for 2021

After the next@acer Global Press Conference 2021, we had interview sessions with a number of people inside Acer. We managed to get a glimpse of what we can expect from the company this year, and their thoughts on what has happened thus far. Looks like they have some big plans lined up for 2021.

Acer Reportedly Has Big Plans for 2021

A number of questions were tossed at the Acer representatives on the newly unveiled products at the next@acer Global Press Conference 2021, as well as what we can expect from them this year. While some didn’t get a direct answer, it did hint at potentially big plans for this year, which still holds a possibility to be delayed due to the ongoing pandemic.

Starting off with Acer’s strategy to differentiate, innovate and customer alignment, Acer Chairman and CEO Jason Chen mentioned that from the beginning, their goal has always been to bridge technology with the people, and add unique technology on top of it. One example is their thermal technology, most likely pointing to the likes of the Aeroblade 3D fans, to improve cooling and therefore boosting the performance of gaming machines even if they are using the same chips as other brands. Then there is other technologies like SpatialLabs for a glasses-free 3D experience and SigridWave for in-game translation via AI.

One new area that the company recently ventured in is smart home appliances starting with the Acerpure Cool, a 2-in-1 air circulator and purifier product. When asked about future products under the new line, President of Acer Pan Asia Pacific Operations Andrew Hou can confirm there are “medical” products in the works, a new version of the Acerpure Cool with Wi-Fi support coming soon, but declined to comment any further than “stay tuned” until July 2021 on the matter. As for their killer product of 2021, Andrew mentioned that “green”, most likely pointing towards their commitment towards being more eco-friendly, is their focus now, which is why he believe the Aspire Vero would be the one for this year. This is because it uses 100% recycled material, which is the first in the world to do so.

When asked about the idea of a new VR-based product, such as their previous Acer Mixed Reality headset, Co-COO and President of IT Products Business Jerry Kao revealed that there are no plans for a new headset at this time. It was mentioned that they’ve tried it previously but found that the demand wasn’t high enough to meet their expectations, especially due to the maturity of VR at the time. However, they will reconsider it again if there is enough demand in the future.

Previously, Acer was one of the first to develop a portable Android gaming device with their Predator 8 tablet. When asked about the possibility of this line of product coming back, Jerry didn’t feel like this was a good idea as smartphones can do what tablets can nowadays. Interestingly, he ended his answer “hang on to your smartphones”, which may not sound like much, but perhaps they may have plans related to a smartphone in the future. Perhaps a Predator gaming phone? Who knows.

Moving on to monitors, we talked with the General Manager of Digital Displays Business Victor Chien, coming off from the three new Acer Predator gaming monitors. One of those new displays is the successor of their large gaming monitor, the Acer Predator CG437K S with HDMI 2.1 support. I asked if there was a possibility of seeing monitors larger than that by the end of this year.

Victor mentioned that they are focused on creating displays that are to be viewed within a 3 feet range. They have considered larger displays before, outright mentioning a 49-inch monitor, but nothing concrete has come out of it. In other words, monitors larger than 43-inch aren’t within their focus. This doesn’t mean it will not happen, but it won’t be coming out anytime in the near future.

Pokdepinion: It sounds like Acer has many things planned out, most of which are still kept under their sleeves as they would want to keep it a surprise. It’s nice to hear that they’re taking risks on innovations as it would often result in more interesting products being launched. Some may end up being a failure, but this risk could still end up paying off well for the company one way or another in the long run.