Among biometrics technologies, facial recognition is in growing application due to its being contactless, quick recognition and easy to use, and this is expected to increase demand for infrared (IR) LED devices which are used to enhance accuracy of facial recognition, according to Digitimes Research.Although fingerprint recognition is the most popular biometrics technology, it entails contact of fingers and thus is mostly applied to personal mobile devices, Digitimes Research indicated. In comparison, facial recognition is not only applied to mobile devices but also widely used for personal identification at public facilities such as airports.In order to hike accuracy of facial recognition, facial images have been upgraded from 2D level to 3D level and 3D images necessitate IR LED devices for depth scanning of faces to build 3D facial models. In addition, many vendors have developed image sensing software applications to hike capability of recognizing algorithms, such as Facebook-developed DeepFace, Apple-developed iPhoto and Microsoft-developed facial recognition API.Global market value for biometrics will increase from US$14.6 billion to US$31.4 billion in 2020, and that for facial recognition alone will increase from US$3.8 billion to US$10.1 billion, with the proportion to rise from 26.0% to 32.2%.

Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel makers shipped 309.749 million small- to medium-size panels in the third quarter of 2016, increasing 15.0% on quarter and 0.8% on year, according to Digitimes Research.a-Si TFT-LCD panels took up 89.2% of the shipments and LTPS (low-temperature poly-Si) TFT-LCD units 10.8%, Digitimes Research indicated.In terms of applications, handsets accounted for 74.78% of the shipments, automotive displays for 5.72%, tablets for 5.66%, digital cameras for 3.67% and PNDs (portable navigation devices) for 2.72%.Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) was the largest maker accounting for 34.98% of the shipments, followed by HannStar Display with 31.84% and Innolux with 19.67%. However, HannStar Display's shipments grew 45.3% on quarter due to large growth in production of panels used in feature phones, while CPT's and Innolux's rose 7.7% and 10.7% respectively.Taiwan-based makers will ship 295.271 million small- to medium-size panels in the fourth quarter, slipping 4.7% on quarter but growing 4.0% on year.HannStar Display ranked second in shipmentsPhoto: HannStar Display

Taiwan-based ODMs, OEMs and OBMs together shipped 9.565 million LCD TVs in the third quarter of 2016, growing 13.2% on quarter and 4.7% on year, according to Digitimes Research.North America was the largest regional market accounting for 41.2% of shipments, Asia 31.3%, Europe 17.9% and others 9.6%, Digitimes Research indicated.Ultra HD models took up 19.1% of shipments and HD models 80.9%. In terms of screen size, below 32-inch models accounted for 10.8% of shipments, 32-inch 22.4%, 39-inch 3.2%, 40-/43-inch 27.2%, 46- to 49-inch 9.6% and 50-inch and above 26.8%.While 28.1% of shipments were for own-brand sale, US- and Europe-based vendors accounted for 28.2% of shipments, vendors from Japan 22.7%, China 16.0% and others 5.0%.TPV Technology took up 54.4% of shipments, followed by Foxconn Electronics 23.0%, Amtran Technology 9.6%, Compal Electronics 5.8% and Wistron 3.8%.There will be an estimated 10.215 million LCD TVs shipped globally in the fourth quarter, growing 6.8% on quarter but dipping 0.2% on year.

The Japan CE (consumer electronics) market in the third quarter of 2016 was characterized by declining sales of DSLR cameras, focus of the 2016 Tokyo Game Show (TGS, September 15-18) on VR games and devices, takeoff of demand for drones and popularity of Amazon Prime Music, according to Digitimes Research.According to Japan-based BCN, DSLR camera sales volume and value in the Japan market in June 2016 shrank 35.4% and 39.3%, respectively, on year, Digitimes Research indicated. Canon and Nikon were the two largest DSLR camera vendors in June.614 exhibitors from 37 countries showcased 1,523 games, including about 110 VR games, at the 2016 TGS. Futuretown, a Taiwan-based developer of VR content, exhibited 5D Totalmotion, a jointly developed VR entertainment platform consisting of motion and sensation simulating hardware base and matched modular devices for experiencing VR games with fidelity. Totalmotion currently supports HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and China-developed 3Galsses VR devices and will launch in early 2017.Canon's subsidiary Canon Marketing Japan and Toshiba have cooperated with Japan-based drone developer Prodrone and Japan-based GPS device developer Alpine Electronics, respectively, to promote sales of drones. According to Japan-based Seed Planning, Japan's drone market value will reach JPY63.4 billion (US$614 million) in 2020, 16.7 times the amount in 2015.According to surveys by Japan-based Impress, Japan's streaming music market recorded total sales value of JPY4.99 billion during the first half of 2016, and 36.2% of sampled consumers preferred Amazon Prime Music, followed by LINE Music with 17.7%, Apple Music with 10.7% and d Hits with 8.9%.

Taiwan-based TFT-LCD makers shipped 309.749 million small- to medium-size panels in the third quarter of 2016, increasing 15.0% on quarter and 0.8% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Of the shipments, 89.2% were a-Si TFT-LCD panels and 10.8% LTPS ones, Digitimes Research indicated. In terms of application, handset panels accounted for 74.78% of the shipments, automotive displays 5.72%, tablets 5.66%, digital cameras 3.67% and PNDs (portable navigation devices) 2.72%.Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) accounted for 35.0% of the shipments, followed by HannStar Display with 31.8% and Innolux with 19.7%.Due to off-season effects, Taiwan-based makers' combined shipments in the fourth quarter will decrease 4.7% sequentially to 295.271 million panels, resulting in shipments of 1.182 billion units for the whole year.

SK Telecom, the largest mobile telecom carrier in South Korea, began to provide nationwide IoT (Internet of Things) services in July 2016 through adopting LoRaWAN (long range wide area network), a non-cellular LPWA (lower-power wide area) technology, on unlicensed frequency band units instead of Narrow Band-IoT (NB-IoT) on licensed band units released by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in June 2016, and this signals mobile telecom carriers' preference for non-cellular mobile communication standards using unlicensed band units for IoT business operations, according to Digitimes Research.In addition to SK Telecom, South Korea-based LG U+, US-based AT&T, Switzerland-based Swisscom, UK-based Vodafone and Germany-based Deutsche Telekom are setting up, or will set up LPWA networks on unlicensed ISM (industrial, scientific, medical) frequency band units to provide IoT services, Digitimes Research indicated.According to Ericsson, the global number of IoT-connected sensors increased from 500 million in 2010 to 4.6 billion in 2015 and will keep increasing to 15.7 billion in 2021, of which 90.5% will be based on non-cellular LPWA technologies.The preference for non-cellular LPWA technologies is mainly due to the cost of deploying IoT sensing networks and the choice of frequency band units. As costs for deploying a large volume of sensors rather than costs for setting up base stations and gateways takes up a large portion of investment in setting up IoT networks, costs for a NB-IoT wireless communication module stands at US$10-20, roughly 100-200% higher than US$5-10 for an LPWA model. In terms of frequency bands, unlicensed bands available for LPWA are mostly below 1GHz, such as 433MHz, 470MHz, 780MHz, 868MHz and 915MHz bands used in LoRaWAN. For mobile telecom carriers, there are flexible and more choices of unlicensed band units and in addition, many of the licensed bands will be taken back when the license use expires.

Global shipments of large-size (9-inch and above) TFT-LCD panels will increase from 673.37 million panels in 2016 to 684.60 million units in 2021, with a CAGR of 0.3% for the 5-year period, according to Digitimes Research.Among applications, 2016-2021 CAGR is 0.4% for LCD TVs, negative 1.1% for notebooks, negative 2.5% for LCD monitors and AIO (all-in-one) PCs and 4.8% for 9-inch and above tablets, Digitimes Research indicated.Annual production capacity for large-size panels in China, including factories set up by South Korea- and Taiwan-based panel makers, will increase from 52.504 million square meters in 2016 to 111.01 million square meters in 2021 at CAGR of 16.2% and will exceed capacity in Taiwan in 2017 and in South Korea in 2018.Taiwan-based makers will ship 244.32 million large-size panels in 2017, growing 4.3% on year and accounting for 34.5% of global output. The shipments will mainly consist of 73.46 million LCD TV panels, 77.28 million notebook-use panels, 51.42 million panels used in LCD monitors and AIO PCs and 35.12 million panels used in 9-inch and above tablets.

Worldwide notebook shipments (not including 2-in-1 devices) increased 8.6% sequentially in the third quarter thanks to growing demand from the enterprise sector, vendors preparing for the year-end holidays, and increasing Chromebook shipments. The third-quarter shipments were down 4.1% on year.Hewlett-Packard (HP) surpassed Lenovo and became the largest notebook vendor worldwide in the third quarter thanks to its strong product lineup for 2016, which allows the company to achieve better-than-expected sales in both consumer and enterprise sectors. HP's shipments grew a double-digit percentage on year in the third quarter, Digitimes Research's figures show.Lenovo was busy digesting its inventory in early third quarter and did not start placing meaningful orders until September, which impacted its overall third-quarter notebook shipments.Dell and Asustek Computer, ranked third and fourth, respectively in the third quarter, saw their shipments grow at rates weaker than expected. Dell was outperformed by competitors in the consumer market, while Asustek was impacted by Kaby Lake's delay.Acer was the fifth largest in the third quarter, followed by Apple in number six. Apple saw a delay in new notebook product launches.As for ODMs, Quanta Computer's shipments were down from a quarter ago in the third quarter as its orders from HP were weaker than expected and Apple also placed less orders with Quanta. Compal Electronics saw its shipments in the third quarter grow strongly from the second quarter thanks to increased orders from Lenovo and US-based clients for the year-end holidays.Wistron also enjoyed growing shipments in the third quarter thanks to orders from its US-based clients and shipped over five million notebooks in the quarter. Pegatron's shipments grew the highest among the top-5 ODMs and surpassed two million units.

Worldwide notebook shipments are expected to drop 7.2% on year to reach less than 150 million units in 2016 because Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade program caused many consumers to postpone their new PC purchasing plans, while Apple's late releases of its new MacBooks will be another reason for the decline. But in 2017, Digitimes Research expects the decline to be much smaller at only 0.2% with shipments coming to around 146 million units.Although the notebook market will still be impacted by several negative factors including a lack of new innovations and the rescheduled launch of Intel's Cannonlake processors, notebook shipments in 2017 will remain flat mainly thanks to demand from the enterprise sector. Since Intel's new processors including ones using Kaby Lake architecture are no longer supporting Windows 7, more enterprises will begin adopting Windows 10 for their PC systems and will trigger replacement demand.As for brand vendors, Hewlett-Packard (HP) will continue enjoying a shipment growth in 2017 thanks to its strong and complete product lineup and contribution from the enterprise sector. HP will also surpass Lenovo to become the largest vendor in the year.Lenovo will suffer from a shipment decline in 2017, facing fierce competitions in both China and other markets, and its channel strategy for Europe is also expected to create problems for the vendor.Dell will also benefit from the enterprise sector's replacement trend in 2017, but the growth will not be as strong as in 2016.Apple's three new notebook products are also expected to see strong sales in 2017, helping the vendor to regain a double-digit percentage on-year growth.Acer and Asustek Computer are expected to see small declines in 2017, while Micro-Star International (MSI) will become a top-10 vendor due to Japan-based players' departure from the market.For 2018, Digitimes Research expects the consumer sector to continue shrinking, while the enterprise sector will only see limited growths. Notebook shipments are expected to drop over 2% on year in both 2018 and 2019; however, after worldwide notebook shipments arrive at the level of 140 million units, the annual volume is expected to stay at around that level in future unless a new innovative product is introduced to stimulate new demand. Digitimes Research expects CAGR for worldwide notebook shipments from 2017-2021 to reach negative 0.9%.

Combined revenues of Taiwan's top-3 foundries - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) - are estimated to be US$9.36 billion in the third quarter of 2016, up 14.3% sequentially and 18.5% on year, according to Digitimes Research.A seasonal pick-up in end-market demand led to the sequential increase, said Digitimes Research. Meanwhile, revenues saw a substantial on-year growth due to the low point during the same period in 2015.Taiwan's top-3 foundries saw their combined revenues reach US$8.19 billion in the second quarter of 2016, up 10.7% sequentially and 1.2% on year, Digitimes Research indicated. It was also the first after five consecutive quarters of sequential decreases.Revenues generated from 16nm process technology are estimated at US$1.75 billion in the third quarter, up 60.6% on quarter. Digitimes Research credited the significant rise to robust shipments for high-end smartphones rolled out by Apple, Huawei and other brands.In contrast, revenues generated from 20nm process technology will fall to US$240 million in the third quarter from US$480 million in the second, Digitimes Research indicated.Driven by demand for entry-level and mid-range smartphones, as well as inventory replenishment in the networking IC sector, Taiwan's top-3 foundries will see their combined 28nm revenues grow to US$2.63 billion in the third quarter from US$2.07 billion in the second, Digitimes Research said.