Shipments of smartphones in China grew 11.5% sequentially to 119 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, buoyed by an increase of 54.5 million new 4G/3G service subscribers due to preferential packages launched by China Mobile, according to Digitimes Research.While shipments of entry-level and mid-range 4G models have continued to gain momentum, high-end models from Apple and local brands such as Huawei have also stirred up replacement demand, said Digitimes Research.Apple ranked as the top smartphone vendor in China in the fourth quarter with a 19.1% share. Xiaomi Technology ranked second, followed by Huawei, BBK, Oppo, Samsung Electronics and Meizu (5%). Meanwhile, ZTE and Lenovo saw their shipments remain flat in the quarter with their respective market shares standing at slightly over 2%.For the first quarter of 2016, China's smartphone shipments are set to slide over 20% on quarter but rise less than 5% on year due to a stockpile of inventory left over from the previous quarter, Digitimes Research estimated.
China's tablet-use application processor (AP) shipments will drop 15.5% sequentially and 13.7% on year to reach 19.15 million units in the first quarter of 2016 due to fewer working days caused by the Lunar New Year holidays and weakening demand from non-China markets, according to Digitimes Research.MediaTek will see its market share in China's tablet AP market decline to 23.5% in the first quarter as new tablet solutions released at the end of 2015 target the high-end segment and are unlikely to ramp in shipments significantly in the quarter, Digitimes Research said.Intel is expected to see its share climb to 19.8% in the first quarter as the chip maker has shifted its focus to promoting highly-integrated SoFIA platform products, narrowing its gap against MediaTek to 3.7pp.China-based Allwinner Technology has seen its AP shipments gradually decline since at the end of the third quarter of 2015 and will see its share sink to 14.6% in the first quarter, Digitimes Research added.However, Rockchip Electronics will manage to ramp its market share to 14.1% in the first quarter as the vendor has begun marketing its quad-core solutions, and its high-end solutions have been adopted by some business models.
Worldwide notebook shipments enjoyed a slight growth of 0.6% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2015 thanks to stable demand from the year-end holidays in Europe and North America plus brand vendors have been pushing new Windows 10-based entry-level and mid-range notebooks.Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell both saw good performance in the fourth quarter of 2015 because of North America's year-end holiday and enterprise demand. Apple saw decreased shipments because its MacBook Air has already been available for over have a year and is seeing weakening demand, according to Digitimes Research's latest report about notebook.Lenovo continued to snatch market share from Acer in Europe and North America in the fourth quarter of 2015, while Asustek surpassed Acer and Apple and became the fourth largest vendor worldwide in the quarter because of it aggressive push of new products.As for ODMs, Pegatron Technology's notebook shipments also surpassed Inventec to rank the fourth largest in the fourth quarter of 2015 with a major growth in Asustek's orders.Worldwide notebook shipments will suffer a sequential drop of 16.5% and an on-year drop of 9% in the first quarter of 2016 because of inventory from the fourth quarter of 2015, seasonal factors, weak Chromebook shipments and the Lunar New Year holidays, which will cause fewer working hours in the quarter.The top-5 brand vendors will all suffer over 15% on-quarter shipment declines in the first quarter. Lenovo will be the one with the least decline thanks to the Lunar New Year holiday demand.Among the top-5, HP will suffer the largest decline in the first quarter because of its high inventory from the previous quarter. Dell will see a smaller decline than HP because enterprise notebooks are not affected by seasonality as much.Samsung Electronics will turn its focus from tablets to notebook and will be the only vendor with sequential shipment growth in the first quarter.Quanta will see its shipments drop sharply in the first quarter due to decreasing orders from HP and Apple as well as orders for Chromebooks. Compal will surpass Quanta and become the largest ODM in the quarter.
Head Up Displays (HUDs) are expected to account for a 6% market share in the vehicle display segment in 2016, up from 4% in 2015, according to Digitimes Research. HUDs present data on vehicle windshields without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoint.Other display applications such as Center Information Displays (CIDs) and those used for navigation and entertainment purposes account for most vehicle display demand, but HUDs are on the increase.Currently, makers from Taiwan and Japan lead the way in shipments of vehicle displays, which are expected to reach 94.24 million in 2016 rising to 110 million in 2018, said Digitimes Research.
Total shipments of smartphones by China-based vendors grew 8.8% on quarter and 18.3% on year to 154.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the latest data released by Digitimes Research.Of total shipments, China vendors saw their overseas shipments increase 25.6% on year to 69 million units in the fourth quarter, mainly to India, Southeast Asia, East Europe, Russia and South America, Digitimes Research revealed.Huawei ranked as the top China-based vendor in the fourth quarter with shipments reaching over 27 million units. The rest of the top-five vendors were Xiaomi Technology, TCL, Oppo and BKK Electronics, with each shipping over 10 million units in the quarter.However, vendors in China are expected to see their smartphone shipments decline over 20% sequentially in the first quarter of 2016 due to the stockpile of inventories left over from the previous quarter and a slowdown in overseas shipments, Digitimes Research noted.
Taiwan panel makers' shipments of large-size (9-inch and above) TFT LCD panels reached 60.14 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, up 2.6% on quarter, according to Digitimes Research.For 2015, the makers' total large-size LCD panel shipments reached 236.8 million, down 10.5% on year. AU Optronics (AUO) reported 105.68 million, down 9.6% on year and Innolux 123.03 million, down 13% on year. Both of the on-year declines were higher than the global averages of 4.3%.Globally, large-size LCD panel shipments reached 683.8 million in 2015, down 4.3% on year. TV panel shipments accounted for 268.4 million, up 7.2% on year while monitor, notebook and tablet applications dropped 11.1%, 9.1% and 12.5% on year respectively.Heading into the first quarter of 2016, Taiwan makers' large-size panel shipments will decline 7.2% on quarter due to seasonally low demand coupled with decreased working hours as a result of the Lunar New Year holiday period.Worldwide shipments of large-size LCD panels in 2016 are expected to reach 662.3 million in 2016, down 3.1% on year, marking the second consecutive year of on-year decline, said Digitimes Research.
Smart home device and service vendors were showcasing more devices and service applications dedicated to the promotion of personal security at the recently concluded CES 2016, according to Digitimes Research.Meanwhile, there is more cooperation between the DIY and traditional vertical markets, blurring the business models of the two sectors, Digitimes Research noted.Vendors of smart home products such as smart locks and doorbell monitors are stressing on improved user experience instead of emphasizing automated control as previously. Meanwhile, smart home platform operators are offering security services comparable to those provided by professional security service companies, Digitimes Research added.Traditional smart home service companies which offer services from household security to automated service have started providing DIYproducts as those offered by Nest and HomeKit. On the other hand, DIY service platform operators have stepped up their cooperation with monitoring centers of professional security companies.
VR (virtual reality) devices showcased at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) highlighted many applications beyond gaming to include education, medical care, social networking and industrial design, according to Digitimes Research.Software products displayed at the show support both theater-type VR devices with viewing angles less than 50 degrees and those immersive-type VR models with viewing angles greater than 100 degrees.With regard to gaming applications, those supporting the PS4 VR account for the highest number, DigitimesResearch noted, adding that price for PS4 VR is also likely to lower than those for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. As a result, the PS4 VR is likely to become the top-selling VR device in the VR gaming market in 2016.In terms of hardware specifications, Intel, Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm have been pushing sales of their respective chipset solutions for immersive-type VR devices, while most VR devices are using AMOLED display products.Meanwhile, Oculus, HTC and Samsung have not yet finalized the hand-held controllers for their Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Gear VR, respectively, which will pave the way for more third-party controllers to enter the market, Digitimes Research commented.
MediaTek is currently a major mobile application processor (AP) supplier in China and is enjoy high shares in the country's smartphone and tablet AP markets; however, lacking clients from western countries, the company is only able to achieve limited growth in its share of the worldwide AP market and the percentage is only expected to reach 20.22% in 2016, up from 19.69% in 2012, according to Digitimes Research's latest mobile APs report.Meanwhile, MediaTek is also facing challenges, including competition from China-based players such as Spreadtrum as well as its existing clients pushing their in-house solutions, Digitimes Research's report noted.MediaTek is seeing difficulties entering into the high-end segment. Although the company has launched several APs with prices and performances almost reaching the level of competing high-end solutions, they either have weak demand or have been adopted by clients for the mid-range and entry-level segments.Although these solutions' high prices have benefited MediaTek's gross margins, clients not using them for the high-end segment means that the clients are still not confident about these solutions.MediaTek's tablet AP solutions have also started to overlap its smartphone AP solutions since the company's Wi-Fi-only tablet solutions are not competitive enough against competitors, while Wi-Fi plus telecommunication-supporting tablet solutions are almost identical with the one for smartphones.Although these tablet solutions can also be used for products such as set-top boxes (STBs), PND or smart imaging systems, MediaTek has not been performing well in these areas.
There were 157.4 million notebooks shipped globally in 2015, decreasing 9% on year, and the shipments will further slip 2.5% to 153.5 million units in 2016, according to Digitimes Research.Among vendors, Lenovo will take up 22.5% of shipments in 2016, followed by Hewlett-Packard with 21.4%, Dell 13.8%, Apple 11.9%, Asustek Computer 10.2%, Acer 8.9%, Samsung Electronics 2.8%, Toshiba 1.7% and Fujitsu 1.1%, Digitimes Research indicated.Taiwan-based ODMs will ship 125.23 million notebooks in total in 2016, accounting for 81.6% of global shipments. Quanta Computer will be the largest Taiwan-based ODM accounting for 31.3% of Taiwan's ODM shipments, followed by Compal Electronics with 29.5%, Wistron 14.7%, Inventec 7.5%, Pegatron Technology 7.2% and Foxconn Electronics 3.6%.
