Smartphone shipments in the China market reached 112.8 million units in the third quarter of 2017, increasing 18.6% sequentially but decreasing 1.9% on year. China shipments accounted for 31.3% of the global smartphone shipments in the quarter, according to Digitimes Research.Buoyed by Single's Day promotional campaigns and the release of iPhone X by Apple and new models by other brands, smartphone shipments in China are expected to top 128.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, Digitimes Research estimates.Inventory replenishments by Huawei, Oppo and Vivo contributed to the sequential shipment growth in the third quarter. However, Huawei is likely to pay more attention on boosting sales in overseas markets in the fourth quarter, while adopting a more conservative approach in the domestic front to avoid an inventory build-up. On the other hand, Oppo and Vivo will continue to push sales in the fourth quarter to maintain their market share.Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi Technology and Apple were the top-5 vendors in the China market in the third quarter. Huawei managed to maintain its top-vendor title due in part to its efforts to clear out its inventories and brisk sales of its mid-tier and entry-level models. Xiaomi lagged behind Oppo and Vivo as the vendor counted more on oversea shipments. Meanwhile, Apple gained a boost on the release of iPhone 8 devices and price cuts for old models.Looking into the fourth quarter, Apple is likely to outrace Xiaomi to capture the fourth position in China thanks to the release of iPhone X, while Huawei, Oppo and Vivo will be able to maintain their current rankings.

Since SONY introduced the 18650 cylindrical lithium-ion battery in 1992, kick-starting the commercialization of lithium-ion batteries, the technology has been advancing with applications becoming more and more widespread, ranging from consumer electronics to electric cars and solar panels. Among these, electric cars are considered a high growth market for lithium-ion batteries.The promising outlook for lithium-ion automotive batteries has also spurred booming opportunities for related equipment. The market is expected to show more than 20% CAGR over the next few years, attracting numerous vendors to scramble for a share of the market. There are increasingly intense competitions throughout the front-end (electrode), mid-tier (battery cell) and back-end (packaging and testing) segments. To set themselves apart from their rivals, makers of equipment for lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars are all looking to raise production capacity and reduce costs and therefore are growingly evaluating and adopting EtherCAT. This has given rise to the popularity of EtherCAT, which enables multiple advantages including motion control with optimal compatibility and precise synchronization.Equipment for making lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars is generally of immense scale. Mixers, coaters, roller presses and flaking mills used during pre-process and electrode sheet laminators used during mid-process all include a massive number of axes and I/O points. As such, using a high-performance automation control system to allow as many axes and I/O points as possible to work in synchronization is critical to raising operation efficiency. However, traditional control technologies such as MNET and HSL use the RS485 communication protocol with less-than-optimal transmission efficiency so signal exchanges between axes take longer cycles during distributed motion control operations. This results in difficulty in achieving synchronization and therefore most processes can only work on a single-action basis, which falls short of vendor expectation to boost production capacity.A combination of compatible master and slave equipment delivers high CP valueDrawing on his experience in corresponding with a battery equipment supplier to electric car makers Tesla and BYD, Chia-Wei Yang, market development manager, automation business center, ADLINK, said the supplier has realized in order to increase equipment efficiency and thereby help lithium-ion battery making customers raise production yield, motion control has to advance from "single action" to "synchronous action" with the more co-moving axes the better. Accordingly, seeing that new generation motion control and I/O control technologies are necessary to achieve such purpose, the supplier evaluated several solutions including PROFINET, EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT and finally selected EtherCAT.The supplier made the choice mainly because EtherCAT can help increase production yield and also provide the additional benefit of cost saving.EtherCAT Technology Group now has over 4,500 members worldwide producing an accumulative total of more than 800 EtherCAT-enabled products. With the consortium of vendors joining forces to support the development of the open standard platform, in theory, the technology has great potential as long as suppliers of EtherCAT masters put in R&D efforts to make corresponding drivers available to EtherCAT slaves that are widely used on the market and ensure they pass stringent certification to guarantee compatibility between masters and slaves of different brands.The supplier tested the compatibility between six servomotors that its own equipment could support and several different brands of EtherCAT master controllers and found ADLINK's Talos series can work with all six servomotors without any problem. This means the supplier will no longer be limited to a single brand of motor and can freely choose the motor with the best cost performance value without changing software programs to maintain maximum cost-effectiveness.Synchronous motion across modules becomes a realityIn fact, besides hardware, software development efficiency also decides system costs. The supplier was using ADLINK's RS485-based control solutions as well as ADLINK's APS Function Library to accelerate development cycle because of the reusability of existing software programs. As such, when the supplier made the decision to upgrade from legacy systems to EtherCAT, it chose ADLINK's EtherCAT solution for an expedited transition (it would be necessary to rewrite software programs for EtherCAT masters of other vendors). A seamless upgrade was completed in two weeks thanks to the use of existing APS Function Library.Yang added if non-APS users are to adopt ADLINK's EtherCAT solution, it will be necessary to re-develop software. However, ADLINK will offer sample code and assign engineers to provide necessary assistance to help customers smooth out any bumps during the transition and accelerate the process.The above-mentioned automotive battery equipment supplier is now able to fill in gaps between its supply and demand that has long been put on hold. The process originally supporting only simple synchronous action has entered a new era of multi-axis synchronous action. High efficiency of up to eight axes moving in synchronization can now be achieved. Furthermore, old hardware module architecture prohibits cross-module synchronous action so some process steps have to be divided into several actions. It takes time for the process flow to transition from one action to the next. Now with EtherCAT, a single Ethernet cable can connect all pieces of slave equipment, overcoming module barriers and easily combining multiple actions into one with cross-module synchronization.Multi-axis and cross-module synchronous action has enabled giant leaps in productivity. The electric car battery equipment supplier has seen a 20%-30% upsurge in production yield and a 15% reduction in production costs, enjoying the benefit from a significant boost in its competitiveness.Now with EtherCAT, a single Ethernet cable can connect all pieces of slave equipment, overcoming module barriers and easily combining multiple actions into one with cross-module synchronization.

Four out of the top-5 notebook brands experienced on-year shipment declines in October mainly because of weak demand from the consumer sector. The vendors' refocusing their strategies onto boosting profitability from expanding shipment volumes also impacted negatively their shipment performances.Hewlett-Packard (HP) was the only vendor with on-year growth in October shipments, increasing by 11% thanks to its aggressive promotions and marketing. Lenovo's shipments slipped both sequentially and on-year in October, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook reports.Dell, unable to acquire short-term orders for consumer notebook models as it did in late 2016, saw its shipments decrease 18.1% on year in October. Asustek Computer and Acer both had on-year drops in October shipments, but Asustek performed better than Acer, seeing shipments slip only 4.3% on year, compared to Acer's 17.8%.As for the top-3 ODMs, Quanta Computer outperformed both Compal Electronics and Wistron in October with an on-year shipment growth of 7% thanks to increased orders from HP and Asustek Computer. Compal and Wistron both witnessed on-year shipment declines in the month.

October 2017 average retail price for 7W LED light bulbs (40W incandescent equivalents) in China decreased 3.2% from August 2017 to reach CNY24.3 (US$3.8), while 9W models (60W incandescent equivalents) also saw pricing drop 27.2% to CNY23.5, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in Japan in October stood at JPY2,110 (US$19.0) and JPY1,875 respectively, the former growing 47.9% from August and the latter rising 3.0%, Digitimes Research indicated.October average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW7,978 (US$7.20, up 4.2% from August) and KRW12,299 (up 0.3%) in South Korea; US$16.90 (up 6.3%) and US$19.8 (down 2.5%) in the US; EUR4.80 (US$5.60, up 4.3%) and EUR9.50 (up 8.0%) in Europe.Philips 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Osram 60W-equivalent models for sale in South Korea had the highest average lumen-price ratios of 117.5lm/US$ and 254.4lm/US$ respectively in October. In terms of luminous efficiency, Mitsubishi Electric 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Toshiba 60W-equivalent models available in Japan had the highest average level of 95.5lm/W and that of 108.2lm/W respectively in October.

With to a lack of growth momentum in the traditional mainstream TV and monitor markets, most flat panel makers have paid more attention on the development niche applications for large-sized panels such as public information displays (PIDs), automotive display boards and gaming devices, according to Digitimes Research.While large-sized panels for PID applications place emphasis on bezel-less frames and strong environmental tolerance, the production of automobile displays have adopted such curved surfaces and dynamic local dimming along with the expanding screen sizes. With regard to gaming applications, the panels will stress fast response time and high color saturation. Panels for these three types of applications all feature aspect ratios of 21:9 and wider ones.For PID devices, the ultra-thin1.8mm narrow bezel frames have become the mainstream due to rising demand for ultra large spliced wall panels, and their requirements for high temperature and humidity tolerance are also more stringent than ordinary panels.Meanwhile, panel products with a 144Hz refresh rate, 500,000:1 high dynamic contrast, and an Adobe RGB 99% of the ultra-high color saturation (equivalent to about 92% NTSC) has become the standards for gaming panels.With regard to automobile panels, the aspect ratio of dashboard products has been doubled from 24:9 to 48:9, in order to cope with multimedia demand by vehicles. For the purpose of energy conservation, major panel makers are also incorporating TV-use backlighting technology into their production of automobile boards. The specifications of curved-surface panels also come with more diverse designs than TV and monitor panels to match exterior designs of various types of automobiles.For large-sized touch panels, the metal grid technology still remains the mainstream, while nano-silver technology seems to have begun fading away. However, Germany-based BASF has continued foraying into the nano-silver sector with promising prospects to make gains in the flexible panel market, Digitimes Research believes.

Global MEMS microphone shipments will increase to 4.8 billion units in 2017 from 4.4 billion units in 2016, and the volume will reach over 5.0 billion units in 2018, according to Digitimes Research.Global MEMS microphone shipments surpassed for the first time those of ECMs (electret condenser microphones) in 2015, reaching 3.8 billion units.MEMS microphone shipments have been mainly driven by growing demand for voice-control smart speakers, for which MEMS microphones are a key voice-command component, Digitimes Research indicated.Among various MEMS microphone applications, smartphones account for the largest portion, followed by notebooks and tablets. MEMS microphones are also used in headphones, digital video recorders, automotive electronic, medical care and IoT (Internet of Things) devices.MEMS microphones, audio ICs and micro-speakers are main audio components used in smartphones, notebooks and tablets.US-based Knowles Electronics and China-based GoerTek and AAC Technologies Holdings were the global top-3 MEMS microphone vendors in 2016, with Sony and Infineon Technologies mainly undertaking outsourced production. IDMs including STMicroelectronics, Bosch, TDK and Omron, are also MEMS microphone suppliers.Amazon, Google, Apple, Sony, Bose and Harman International Industries have launched smart speakers and/or devices with voice assistance functions.To enhance smart speakers' sound reception, it is necessary to not only improve performance of MEMS microphones but also match MEMS microphones with sound source positioning, noise- and echo-cancelling hardware/software systems.

Competition in China's smart speaker market is heating up: Alibaba is pushing sales of its Tmall Genie to the business sector; JD.com is promoting its next-generation smart speaker, the DingDong 2; and Xiaomi Technology has forayed into the entry-level segment with its Mi AI speaker, according to Digitimes Research.For the Single's Day online shopping day on November 11, Alibaba has launched aggressive campaigns by setting its Tmall Genie speaker at CNY99 (US$14.91), and the pre-orders received so far has exceeded the total amount of the DingDong speakers sold by JD.com in 2016. In addition to targeting the consumer market, Alibaba is also pushing the sale of the Tmall Genie to restaurants, aviation companies and retail chain operators.The second-generation DingDong 2, co-developed by JD.com and iFlytek, comes with improved speech recognition capability, allows users to set up their own wake-up language, and features an LED display which enables users to make direct commands by gestures. But DingDong 2's price tag of CNY799 is much higher than that of Tmall Genie's.Meanwhile, other vendors including Lenovo, Haier and Mobvoi all have launched their own smart speakers, while Internet service giants Tencent Holdings and Baidu have also stepped into the segment through the introduction of related smart voice platforms. Xiaomi, a relatively newcomer to the smart speaker industry, is pushing the sale of its Mi AI speakers at a competitive price of CNY299, which is likely to lead to a number of entry-level products from smaller businesses to be phased out from the market, Digitimes Research believes.

Global shipments of tablets are estimated to grow 7.8% sequentially to 45.58 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017 due mainly to brisk market demand for entry-level branded tablets, according to Digitimes Research.The research report showed that global tablet shipments, including brand and white-box models, came to 42.29 million units in the third quarter of 2017, higher than market expectations due to seasonal factors. With the robust performance in the third and fourth quarters, the annual shrinkage of global tablet shipments is expected to narrow significantly in 2017, and a stable shipment performance is projected for 2018.Driven by their promotional campaigns, global brand vendors saw their total tablet shipments soar 16.3% sequentially to 29.99 million units in the third quarter of 2017. Among them, Apple witnessed its entry-level iPad, launched in early 2017 with a price tag of US$329, sustain booming sales momentum in the third quarter, making it enjoy higher shipment volume in the quarter than seen a year earlier. Amazon also saw its tablet shipments perform better than expected due to its Prime Day promotional campaigns.Global shipments of white-box tablets amounted to 12.30 million units in the third quarter, showing a whopping 61.8% growth over a quarter earlier. But squeezed by the low-priced branded models and affected by Google's increasingly strict validation on white-box tablets, smaller white-box makers have seen their shipments undermined significantly and total global white-box tablet shipments for the third quarter still represented a sharp annual fall of 22.2% as a result.Brand tablet vendors are maintaining their growth momentum in the fourth quarter due to year-end buying season, with their aggregate shipments estimated to rise 13% on quarter to reach over 33 million units. But shipment momentum of white-box tablets is expected to be squeezed down in the fourth quarter as a number of clients already required advanced shipments a quarter earlier.

Global server shipments are estimated to surge 7.1% on year to 12.65 million units in 2017 and post a higher growth of 8.5% in 2018, due mainly to expanding demand for datacenter servers and significant growth momentum expected in the China market, according to Digitimes Research.The report said that aggregate revenues scored by Taiwan makers of servers, server motherboards, storage devices and related system network equipment are estimated to soar 15.4% on year to NT$676.2 billion (US$22.38 billion) in 2017, and further shoot up 16% in 2018.Combined server shipments by Taiwan makers are projected at 11.6 million units in 2017 in an annual growth of 15.8%, and are expected to see another 10% annual increase in 2018. Their combined share of the global server market is likely to trend upward thanks to increasing orders from datacenters and the decreasing server shipments by EMS (electronic manufacturing service) firms.Among major Taiwan server suppliers, Inventec and Wistron (including Wiwynn) will each see their annual shipments reach 2.6 million units in 2017, and they will both challenge the goal of three million units in 2018, Digitimes Research estimates.Server shipments are expected to grow in 2018Photo: Digitimes file photo

Singapore-based Sesto Robotics is an automated guided vehicle (AGV) and intelligent mobile robot (IMR) developer that recently participated in Semicon Taiwan 2017 to push its products into the Taiwan market.The company's CEO Michael Leong pointed out that Sesto's AGV products are mainly targeting the semiconductor industry as the company has been spending most of its effort studying semiconductor manufacturing processes and procedures for 3-4 years in order to enable its AGVs to coordinate with the transportation processes of the semiconductor industry.The studying is an ongoing process and Sesto intends to continue the work so it is able to provide its latest innovations to customers, Leong noted."We are also working with our clients to customize software pre-installed in our AGVs for them to coordinate with the clients' existing manufacturing equipment," said Leong, adding that the AGVs also feature a system to track all the movements to prevent erroneous deliveries that can significantly raise costs.Sesto's IMRs are capable of supporting robotic arms from major suppliers such as Yamaha's Scara series and can support both 4-axis and 7-axis arms.The company also obtains orders from cargo delivery service providers, hospitals and manufacturing factories, but semiconductor companies are still the major sources of its orders and its R&D plan is also mainly focusing on the area.In the past, most companies would put strips on the ground at their facilities to help guide robots to reach their destinations, but Sesto is using a high-precision laser-based navigation system to assist AGVs' movements. The AGVs' laser is able to detect the surrounding environment and then use the gathered data to compare with its internal maps to identify its location and plan the moving route. The AGVs also feature support for Internet of Things (IoT) functionality in order to interact with other automation equipment.For the IoT support, Sesto's software is capable of communicating with automatic doors and elevators if clients have demand. The company can basically customize its software to satisfy most of its clients' demand. Demand for the elevator control is more commonly seen from clients with smaller production bases that need extra floors to create space and Sesto's AGVs are able to easily adapt to such requirements due to their flexible design.Compared to an one-floor building, to serve in a factory with multiple floors, the AGVs require extra technologies as their internal maps need to be switched based on what floor they are on. Sesto has already been developing the technology for quite a while and with continued improvement of the related processes, it allows the company to be completely capable of handling the issue, Leong stated.Currently, Sesto has a R&D team composed of 40 engineers and technicians in Singapore responsible for creating and updating the Sesto AGVs' software and systems.Prior to the entry to the Taiwan market, Singapore is Sesto's main market, but after entering Taiwan, the company has found that demands from Taiwan's clients are much different from those of its clients in Singapore. However, Leong believes the differences may not be a drawback for its business and expects its partnerships with Taiwan-based clients to provide experience for the company to grow and build new technologies.Sesto is currently partnering with Taiwan-based Happy Pole for product distribution in the Taiwan market and has already established some partnerships with semiconductor players in China.Sesto CEO Michael Leong.Photo: Joseph Tsai, Digitimes, October 2017