“Premiumisation isn’t merely about making a product higher and charging extra for it,” says Shawn Yen, senior vice chairman of the Client Enterprise Unit at ASUS. “It begins with understanding what prospects really need, defining the minimal viable product that meets these wants, after which enhancing each facet of that have inside these parameters.”
This philosophy displays ASUS’ broader method to product growth, the place premium experiences are formed not by including extra options however by figuring out what issues most to customers and refining it. At a time when the PC trade is converging on the identical silicon, working programs, and more and more comparable characteristic units, corporations appear to be in search of methods to face aside with one thing more durable to repeat.
On the sidelines of Computex 2026 in Taipei, Taiwan, Yen sat down with indianexpress.com to debate the corporate’s technique throughout its client lineup, the realities of constructing for markets like India, and the place he believes AI is taking private computing.
In the direction of post-purchase expertise
India occupies a particular place in ASUS’ fascinated with premium experiences. Yen describes the nation as each critically necessary and deeply instructive, having formed the corporate’s understanding of what prospects worth past the purpose of buy. For the PC maker, that has more and more meant specializing in service and long-term possession somewhat than simply {hardware} specs.
ASUS not too long ago launched drop factors in India, permitting prospects to have small repairs dealt with with out visiting a service centre. Components are shipped to the client first; the defective part is collected afterwards.
“Service is how we really ship premium contact to an finish buyer,” Yen says. “We will promote a buyer a product, and there’s just one transaction. However after that transaction, over time when prospects use these merchandise, that’s the place these experiences are available.”
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Whereas his definition of premium could sound much less glamorous than cutting-edge specs or premium supplies, Yen argues that it displays a extra sincere accounting of what prospects really expertise over a product’s lifetime.
On a assorted portfolio
The Taiwanese tech big sells laptops underneath a number of distinct manufacturers, akin to ROG for avid gamers; Zenbook for what Yen describes as being meant for the ‘tech and concrete vogue crowd’; Vivobook for sensible customers; and ProArt for creators. Often, it’s assumed that these strains stand for a hierarchy based mostly on high quality, with ROG on the high and Vivobook because the entry-level choice. Yen was fast to dismiss this framing throughout the dialog.
“We by no means ask a Vivobook buyer to pay a Zenbook worth,” he stated. “In case you are pragmatic about what you want and the Vivobook is sweet sufficient, then the premiumisation we apply to the Vivobook is for that person.” For instance, he pointed to OLED shows. ASUS makes use of the know-how throughout worth factors however calibrates it in a different way relying on the road. A display screen that performs properly in a dim workplace could wash out underneath daylight glare, a distinction, based on Yen, that issues greater than whether or not a spec sheet says OLED or not.
“OLED isn’t created equal. You’ll be able to merely put an OLED panel in entrance of a buyer, and it’s straightforward to know what OLED means. However while you take it dwelling or use it outdoor, when glare and reflections on the display screen disturb you from what you’re engaged on, that creates irritating moments.”
The fabric query
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On the Asus Design Centre, one of the vital ubiquitous expressions of the corporate’s id has been its motto – ‘design which you can really feel’. When requested how this interprets into product choices, Yen spoke in regards to the firm’s proprietary materials known as Ceraluminium, a handled aluminium with a matte, stone-like end that the corporate makes use of on its Zenbook line. The Asus govt defined that the goal was to create a floor that resists scratches, repels smudges, and doesn’t develop the worn look that commonplace aluminium can over time.
Yen acknowledged the slipperiness of describing it as something greater than a cloth alternative however argued the expertise it creates is the purpose. “Design you may really feel is while you decide it up, and it’s completely different,” he stated. “The one cause we select aluminium is that it provides you the contact of Mom Earth – that stony, pure end. You don’t really feel such as you’re touching a know-how product; you’re touching a present from nature.”
The sensible problem, he famous, is much less about discovering new supplies than manufacturing them at scale. Producing a end that holds up throughout thousands and thousands of items, not simply prototypes, requires a distinct degree of manufacturing unit and provide chain funding. In response to him, it’s a constraint that tempers how rapidly materials innovation can transfer.
Native AI: Privateness first, then value
On the subject of the shift to AI, Yen gives a nuanced perspective. He frames the shift towards on-device AI processing round two concrete advantages: privateness and value. “The native AI expertise delivers two important advantages,” he stated. “First is context privateness – your context shouldn’t be within the cloud, as a result of that’s your work. Second is that it’s not metered. You don’t pay for tokens in case your compute energy is sweet sufficient for what you want.”
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ASUS’s ProArt PX13, he famous, carries 128 gigabytes of reminiscence, which is sufficient to run a 70-billion-parameter language mannequin domestically throughout textual content, voice, and picture inputs. Nevertheless, he was cautious sufficient to not oversell what smaller fashions operating on mainstream {hardware} really do. “These fashions could not change the best way you’re employed or offer you dramatically larger capabilities, however they change into an ever-present companion while you want it. They’ll do these small issues for you very properly.”
The extra fascinating thought Yen floats is orchestration: a neighborhood mannequin that doesn’t attempt to do the whole lot itself, however as a substitute decides what to deal with on-device and what to path to the cloud. “The native mannequin turns into the supervisor,” he stated. “If it wants a truck driver to deal with one thing massive, it sends it to the cloud – the truck driver can convey a tonne of context and tokens, course of it, and convey again the output.”
When requested in regards to the rising shift towards native AI workloads and the way ASUS is shaping its {hardware} technique round it, Yen moved past the local-versus-cloud debate, describing the 2 as complementary layers that work collectively. It’s an method that seems to be guiding ASUS’ AI ambitions.