10-10: A number of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 replacement allegedly caught fire; AT&T and T-Mobile halt sales of Note 7; Samsung temporarily halts Note 7 production; etc.
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Touch Display |
| OnePlus 3 is reportedly running out of stock due to low supply of AMOLED displays, buyers should rather wait for a new phone called the OnePlus 3S, which will have a LCD display and hence wouldn’t suffer from supply issues. (Gizmo China, 163, 91.com)
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| Apple is about diversifying its LCD supply chain to China as existing suppliers Samsung and LG are both shifting their focus from LCD to OLED. BOE is to supply panel to Apple for 13.3” MacBook. BOE is believed to arrange the production in its G8.5 production line. (Sigma Intell, China FPD, OfWeek, IHS Markit, Sam Mobile, Korea Herald)
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| Bernstein Research‘s Mark Li believes only 1 model of Apple iPhone 2017 will have an AMOLED panel. Other handset vendors, given the uncertainty in panel supply, will not bet all products on AMOLED. Thus, though the AMOLED adoption of non-Apple/Samsung will still jump from 8% in 2015 to 19% in 2017, hence some idle AMOLED capacity and an oversupply is brewing. (Barron’s, blog, OfWeek) |
| Apple will allegedly move to AMOLED displays in 2017, sending ripples across its entire supply chain in Asia: Taiwan’s Vanguard is an IC foundry service provider to Novatek, which designs IC display drivers for LG Display, which supplies smartphone screens to Apple. If Apple moves its business to Samsung Display for AMOLED, it will have no need for Vanguard, Novatek and LG Display any more. (Barron’s, blog, Sohu, TechNews) |
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Camera |
| According to Yuanta Investment Consulting, from the supply chain, shipment of smartphone with dual-camera in 2016 would reach about 67 million units considering Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi and LG have their products launched. In 2017, it expects to see 153 million units shipped. (Laoyaoba)
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Memory |
| PC DRAM contract prices (4GB DDR3) for Sept. 2016 rose another 7% from Aug., beating street estimates. Morgan Stanley‘s Shawn Kim explains why DRAM prices surprised: 1) restocking demand from PC and smartphone OEMs, and 2) lower PC DRAM output share of under 20% amid higher mobile DRAM share of over 40%. DRAMeXchange notes the PC DRAM market is clearly in undersupply, with DDR3/DDR4 spot prices reaching USD2.1/2.0, representing a 33-40% premium over the Sept. 2016 contract price of USD1.5 for both. (Barron’s, blog, TrendForce, press, TrendForce[cn], press, Laoyaoba) |
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Sensory |
| From 2015 to 2021 the drones and robots market will grow from USD27 million to USD46 billion with an expected +9.4% CAGR 2015-2021. Most (64%) of these revenues are generated by industrial robots. From 2015 to 2021 sensors for drones and robots will grow from USD351 million to USD709 million with an expected +12.4% CAGR 2015-2021. Most (74%) of these revenues will be captured by optical sensors. (199IT, Yole report)
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Battery |
| Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision has conducted battery and charger tests on hoover board alike transports, and found out that out of 20 samples only 1 sample has passed all 14 tests, the remainder 19 samples do not meet the country’s requirement. (CN Beta, 163)
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| Saitama Industrial Technology Center (Saitec) and Honda Motor have developed what they claim to be the world’s first practical magnesium-based rechargeable battery. Magnesium costs 96% less than lithium. (CN Beta, Asia Nikkei) |
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Connectivity |
| Apple has filed 2 patent applications in China in relates to dual SIM setup—Patent number 2016101166075 for dual SIM network selection and patent number 2016100813788 is about reducing power consumption for dual SIM setup. Both are submitted in early 2016 and now are still under evaluation. (CN Beta, 163, Sina)
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Smartphones |
| Several reports in regards to Samsung Galaxy Note 7 replacements catching fire in the U.S. Samsung has issued a statement saying it is investigating the fires, though it has yet to determine that a “product safety issue exists”. (Android Authority, The Verge, Engadget, My Drivers, iFeng, 163)
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| AT&T has officially stopped selling Samsung Galaxy Note 7, encouraging customers to exchange that device for another Samsung smartphone or other smartphones. (Android Central, My Drivers, LA Times, Mashable, Redmond Pie, WSJ) |
| T-Mobile is halting sales of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 after a number of the supposedly “safe” replacement phones caught fire. Customers will get a full refund and choose from any device in T-Mobile’s inventory. It will also give any customers who return their Note 7 a USD25 credit on their bill. (TechCrunch, The Verge, T-Mobile, CN Beta) |
| Samsung has temporarily suspended production of the Galaxy Note 7, amid a series of media reports that some Note 7 replacements have caught fire. (The Verge, Yonhap News, CN Stock, TechWeb, Huanqiu) |
| Share of value from streaming will grow from 76% in 2015 to 95% in 2022 in the total mobile music market, while the number of users will more than double to reach 950 Million, according to Strategy Analytics. (Strategy Analytics, press, 199IT)
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Wearables |
| According to Digi-Capital, another half a billion dollars was invested into virtual and augmented reality startups in 3Q16, with a record USD2.3 billion invested in the last 12 months. With check sizes averaging USD9.3 million (or USD16.4 million excluding seed deals) in 3Q16, AR/VR investment is rapidly going mainstream. (199IT, Digi-Capital, press)
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| According to IHS Markit, aggressive promotional activity from smartphone vendors and the launch of premium smartphone VR solutions will help drive the installed base of VR headsets from 4 million in 2015 to 81 million in 2020. Consumer spending on VR headsets will reach USD7.9 billion and spending on VR entertainment will hit USD3.3 billion in 2020. (IHS Markit, press, 199IT)
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| Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is ramping up efforts to launch an affordable, wearable health tracker. It is described as an “ordinary-looking, brass-colored” analog watch, is the product of “more than hundreds” of prototypes, Verily CTO Brian Otis. (CN Beta, Digital Trends, Technology Review) |
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Internet of Things |
| Strategy Analytics indicates that the digital voice assistant device category is one that will grow quickly, with annual shipments totaling 15.1 million units by 2020, up from 1.8 million units in 2016. (EE Trend, Strategy Analytics, press)
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| Google has built around 50 of the robotic arms capable of lifting about 10 pounds each. Alphabet CEO Larry Page decided to cancel plans to sell the hardware because it failed Page’s “toothbrush test”. Page only wants to ship products that could be used daily by billions of people, and these are significantly more niche than that. (CN Beta, Engadget, Bloomberg, Android Headlines, Fudzilla)
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Others |
| According to People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the number of online transactions conducted through third-party payment service companies totalled 82.15 billion in China in 2015, which were 2.25 times higher than the cases transacted through online payment systems at banks. Total transaction value via third-party payment service companies reached CNY49.5 trillion in the year. China starts tightening up control on third-party payment service companies. (Digitimes, article, Analysys report)
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