Asustek Computer originally set target shipments of 30 million ZenFone-series smartphones to all markets except China in 2016, but at a February 17 investors conference, it downward adjusted the target to 25 million units. Market analysts indicated that the downward adjustment is due to increasing competition from China-based smartphone vendors in India, Brazil, Russia, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Asustek shipped 20 million smartphones in 2015, up dramatically from 8.5 million units in 2014, and the strong growth also helped its smartphone business turn profitable. Although the Taiwan-based vendor performed weaker than expected in China, it has had stable sales in Southeast Asia countries.

As the company's next-generation ZenFone 3 series smartphones may not be launched until Computex 2016 in June, Asustek expects its smartphone shipments in the first half to have weaker sales performance than previously expected. However, Asustek expects its second-half shipments to pick up strongly.

It also expects its ZenFone 3 smartphones to achieve total sales of 30 million units throughout its product life being replaced by next-generation models.

Asustek CEO Jerry Shen pointed out that the company no longer employs the strategy of flooding the market with multiple models and now focuses on 1-2 major models. The company's smartphones are currently available in as many as 30 countries and will continue its push in the China market, eyeing a bigger share there.

Since China-based smartphone vendors' shipments combined have accounted for over 40% of the worldwide smartphone shipments and seven of the worldwide top-10 smartphone brand vendors are from China, Asustek is expected to face more challenges in maintaining its profits in the smartphone market.