01-21: OPPO and vivo have reportedly cut their orders of components a lot; LGD is reportedly jointly developing specific flexible OLEDs for future Mercedes cars; etc.
Chipsets
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will see its revenues grow 10%-15% on year in 2018, mainly driven by the three major sectors of HPC (high performance computing), automotive electronics and IoT (Internet of Things) applications, and it has also secured a 100% market share in terms of 7nm process fabrication orders in the year, according to company chairman Morris Chang. (UDN, TechNews, Digitimes, press, ET Today)
Touch Display
China-based panel maker BOE Technology has been exempted by the local government in Fuzhou, China from repaying a CNY6.3B (USD969M) loan it provided for construction of an 8.5G LCD fab in the city, which kicked off volume production recently, according to a company announcement. (CN Beta, Digitimes, press)
DSCC says that 2017 was a record year for the display equipment market, with revenues reaching a record USD24.7B (up 30% from 2016). OLED spending reached a record USD15.5B – a 143% increase over 2016. Samsung’s share of the OLED equipment market was 48%, followed by BOE with 24% (following a 229% growth from 2016). (OLED-Info, DSCC, press, iFeng)
LG Display (LGD) is reportedly jointly developing specific flexible OLEDs for future Mercedes cars, and the plan is to launch these in 2022. LGD is also supplying Mercedes with OLED lighting panels for its 2018 S-Class Coupe and Convertible. (OLED-Info, Business Korea, Sina)
Skyworth has unveiled a smart bracelet that utilizes a flexible AMOLED technology. (OLED-Info, Wearable, Sohu)
PlayNitride began trial production of micro LED engineering samples for 10-20 potential clients in 4Q17 and 5-6 of them are willing to continue developing micro LED products, according to company chairman and CEO Charles Li. (Digitimes, press)
JOLED has disclosed it has started offering its 21.6” 4K high-resolution OLED panel samples produced using the printing method to Asustek Computer. JOLED said its OLED panel will be used for Asustek’s ProArt PQ22UC professional monitor. (Digitimes, press, Sohu, 51Touch)
According to IHS, global OLED TV shipments grew 130% from Nov 2016 to Nov 2017 to reach a new monthly record of 270,000 units. The falling prices of 55” 4K OLEDs bring them within budget of a greater number of holiday shoppers, says IHS. IHS estimates that in 2017 over 1.4M OLED TVs were shipped. LG is the clear market leader with a 92% market share. (IHS Markit, press, OLED-Info, iFeng)
Camera
HMD Global is reportedly working on a Nokia smartphone with penta-lens (5 lenses) camera. The camera features 5 lenses, something very similar to the Nokia OZO camera (which has 8 lenses). If Foxconn finds a solution to mass-produce it, then the device will be unveiled as early as late 2018. (Phone Arena, VTech, GizChina)
Gartner estimates that by 2021, 40% of smartphones shipped will have 3D cameras, enabling 3D image rendering, user facial recognition and AR interactivity. Gartner forecasts that leading smartphone OEMs will integrate rear 3D cameras as an AR-ready feature for flagship models in 2 years, and leading smartphone OEMs will have a 3D camera in the front for authentication in 3 years. (Gartner report)
Material
Metal-alloy chassis makers Catcher Technology, Foxconn Technology, Ju Teng International Holdings and Casetek Holdings plan to develop motor chassis for electric vehicles (EVs), as demand from the notebook and consumer electronics sectors has been stagnant, according to Digitimes. (Digitimes, press, Yahoo, SLPCB)
Smartphones
Due to Chinese smartphone market is slowing down, OPPO and vivo have reportedly cut their orders of components a lot. In 1Q18 OPPO has reported given 20M and 15M units to supply chain, as compared to 26M and 19M units in 1Q17, a 20%~30% decrease. The overall 1H18 market is slow, in addition to inventory, OPPO and vivo would delay their new 1H18 models launch to May~Jun 2018. (Laoyaoba, UDN)
TCL Group has announced that its net profits for shareholders were likely to grow 62-75% on year to CNY2.6B-2.8B (USD403.6M-434.6M) in 2017. A surge in net profits at its LCD panel subsidiary China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) resulted from increased production and a steady growth at its multimedia business contributed to improved profits, according to a company statement. (Laoyaoba, Digitimes, press, Sina, 52RD)
