6-18: LGD started its KRW1 trillion investment to increase OLED production; LG has reportedly accelerated the development of foldable phones; Samsung plans to increase production display panels by more than 50% in 2016; etc.
6-18: LGD started its KRW1 trillion investment to increase OLED production; LG has reportedly accelerated the development of foldable phones; Samsung plans to increase production display panels by more than 50% in 2016; Study shows that , the industry trend is for disappointing battery life; Economists think that the current macroeconomic environment has a number of significant similarities with the 1930s; etc.
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Touch Display |
| LG Display has started executing its KRW1 trillion (USD850 million) investment to beef up production of OLED panels for TVs and smartphones. LGD is replacing the production line for LCD at its P8 plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, with those for larger OLED panels for TVs. With the planned production of an additional 25,000 panels per month, LG’s OLED production capacity for TVs is expected to surge to 60,000 units per month in 2016. (OLED-Info, Korea Herald, OfWeek, TechNews) |
| LG has reportedly accelerated the development of foldable phones. They are now investing more into R&D in this area, trying to get to mass production before 2017 or in 2017 at worst. (TechNews, GSM Dome)
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| AU Optronics (AUO) will take a cautious attitude about how its investment in OLED can be recouped rather than trying to compete with fellow makers, according to the chairman and CEO Paul Peng. AUO is developing 3.8” and 5.2” OLED panels for use in VR devices as well as flexible OLED panels. (Digitimes, press, OLED-Info, OfWeek)
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| Samsung Electronics plans to increase production of next-generation smartphone display panels by more than 50% in 2016 with an eye toward supplying Apple and other manufacturers rushing to update their devices. Bulking up OLED production will account for around 80% of Samsung’s capital investment in its panel business this year. (Nikkei, OLED-Info, Tencent) |
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Camera |
| A recent patent from Apple indicates that Apple Watch will contain a built-in camera. Apple notes that “the camera can be disposed on the front surface of Apple Watch face to capture images of the user” – being a selfie camera. (Digital Trends, Patently Apple, USPTO, iFeng, IT Home)
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Battery |
| According to Phone Arena, for the time being, however, and while some makers are improving on historic scoring, the industry trend is for disappointing battery life, barely managing early 2014 achievements. Battery life is thus still a challenging issue for smartphones. (Phone Arena, article, China Tech)
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Smartphones |
| Morgan Stanley economists led by Hong Kong-based Chetan Ahya think that the current macroeconomic environment has a number of significant similarities with the 1930s, and the experiences then are particularly relevant for today. The critical similarity between the 1930s and the 2008 cycle is that the financial shock and the relatively high levels of indebtedness changed the risk attitudes of the private sector and triggered them to repair their balance sheets. (Bloomberg, MarketWatch, article, TechNews)
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| According to a report by Tencent Research Center, China Internet+ development in nationwide 351 cities showed some growth, thanks to the push from 2nd and 3rd tier cities. In the whole China Internet+ development ranking, Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces are the top 5. And the combined indicators of the top 3 cities, namely Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai is 35.5. (199IT, report)
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| With the Apple iPhone 7 cycle, RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani sees replacement purchases moving from 28 months to 31 months. For calendar 2016, Daryanani now expects Apple to ship 210 million iPhones, down 9% from last year. He previously forecast Apple to ship 216 million iPhones, down 7%. For 2017, he is looking for Apple to ship 212 million iPhones. (CN Beta, Investors) |
| Analysts Ananda Baruah and Shenlun Wang of Brean Capital LLC predict that Apple iPhone inventories will bottom out in the Jun and Sept quarters, as Apple works to reduce excess supply. Until then, Baruah and Wang cut their iPhone estimates for both the Jun and Sept 2016 quarters to 40 million units. Brean estimates that Apple entered calendar 2016 with between 17-18 million of iPhone inventory in the channel. (Apple Insider, Benzinga) |
| Two and a half months after the launch of the 4” Apple iPhone SE, the company still hasn’t caught up with demand. In April, Apple had reportedly increased orders for the iPhone SE, planning to build more than 5 million units in the quarter to keep up with demand. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, Apple Insider)
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| Asia’s Top 1000 Brands aggregates data from an online survey developed by Campaign Asia-Pacific and global information and insights provider Nielsen. The study explores consumer attitudes in 13 markets. Samsung is ranked as the top brand for its 5th conservative years, follows by Apple. (Campaign Asia, Android Authority, CN Beta)
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| Apple once unlimited prospects in China ran headlong into an increasingly perilous landscape for Western companies here as regulators in the world’s No. 2 economy handed the tech giant the latest in a series of setbacks. (CN Beta, CN Beta, WSJ) |
| In May 2016, the trade-reliant Taiwan exports contracted for the 16th consecutive month. And the 19 major Taiwanese tech companies reported a 4.68% year-on-year decline in aggregate revenue. Nearly half of them posted double-digit drops in monthly revenue. The biggest losers in May were similar to those in the first four months of the year—Apple suppliers, panel-related companies and smartphone-makers. (Nikkei, TechNews) |
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Wearables |
| Samsung is reportedly working on a new Tizen smartwatch, codenamed Solis. The model numbers for Solis will be SM-R760, SM-R765, SM-R770, SM-R765V, and SM-R765S. (GSM Arena, Sam Mobile) |
