GLENN CARSTENS PETERS-UNSPLASH

ABC Tech Ventures, Inc. is looking to launch shockproof laptops in the third quarter of 2024, targeting students as they will be priced at just P10,000 to P20,000.

“Our design is dust-proof and shockproof so that even if you drop it, it will still work,” Arvin Arik Carranceja, chief executive officer of ABC Tech, said in a chance interview last week.

“We lowered the price so that its affordability will be able to reach the capacity of the buyers, which will be the students,”he said.

ABC Tech said the laptops will be for its retail market and will be different from what it has previously launched in partnership with the government.

“The laptops will have i3, i5 and i7 [processors]. Since it is designed for education, it will have little to none graphics cards, because graphics are for gaming,”Mr. Carranceja said.

He said the laptops are currently at the testing stage, which will span around six to eight months.

“I think this will be launched in July, because school starts in August. That is our target,”he said.

Banking on the government’s goal of digitalizing education, Mr. Carranceja said market demand laptops could be as big as 33 million, or the number of students in the Philippines.

The laptops will be produced in the company’s factory in China and will have Filipino engineers and software developers.

Meanwhile, the company is also in the process of developing software that it aims to present to the Department of Education and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

“We call it Teacher in a Box,” said Mr. Carranceja. “The Teacher in a Box is an access point which has a server where, even if you don’t have WiFi, you can still watch videos and access the learning modules.”

He said this will help students in areas with poor or no Internet connectivity. — Justine Irish D. Tabile