HDR has the most noticeable push forward from vendors in terms of TV technology at CES 2016 in addition to 8K prototypes, according to Digitimes Research.Additionally, car connectivity, virtual reality and IoT concepts were also highly pushed more compared with 2015 when 4K TVs took the main stage due to their relatively new entrance into the market.The craze over 4K has slowed down a bit heading into 2016 and vendors have shown interest in pushing other concepts while TV product developments have revovled around value-added products such as HDR. This was also displayed in 8K concepts despite the lack of content in the market.In addition to TV products, vendors are also expanding their services through increased cooperation with paid TV and OTT prodivders, said Digitimes Research.

Taiwan makers' shipments of LCD monitors reached 19.82 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, down 6.2% on quarter and down 10.9% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Foxconn Electronics held the number one position in shipments in the third and fourth quarter followed by Wistron.Heading into the first quarter of 2016, Taiwan makers will see shipments drop 3.5% on quarter to 19.12 million as the industry enters the slow season.For 2015, global LCD monitor shipments declined 10% on year to 123 million, with Taiwan makers accounting for 79.78 million to represent a 64.8% proportion – up from 62.9% in 2014. In 2016, global shipments will decline another 2-3% on year, said Digitimes Research.

According to Digitimes Research, Suspended Particle Display (SPD) and Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) technologies are facing increased competition from OLED in the smart window display industry as makers such as Samsung Display and LG Display ramp up production of transparent OLED panels.Transparent OLED displays have become the main technology for Korea-based makers tackling the smart window segment as they aim to veer more towards OLED-based applications. Digitimes Research believes the move toward OLED will help reduce pricing and increase automation.Key markets for the makers include the US, Japan and Europe while some of the main providers of the technology include Cardinal Glass Industries, Guardian Industries and PPG Industries.

There will be an estimated 245.237 billion high-brightness LED chips shipped globally in 2016, increasing 31.8% on year, and the corresponding shipment value will reach US$12.821 billion, growing 3.4%, according to Digitimes Research.Lighting applications will account for 58.7% of shipments, of which usage will be 35.9% for LED light bulbs, 34.7% LED light tubes, 25.6% LED projection lamps and 3.8% LED street lamps, Digitimes Research indicated.Among other applications for high-brightness LED chips, mobile terminal devices will account for 13.4% of the shipment volume, display boards 6.5%, LCD TVs 5.7%, automobiles 5%, tablets 3.2%, notebooks 2.5% and LCD monitors 1.3%.

The China government as of December 2015 finalized investments of CNY1.7 billion (US$257.73 million) in China-based panel maker BOE and CNY1 billion in China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) in order to foster the nation's panel industry and further create competitive supply chain solutions, according to Digitimes Research.The central government and local governments throughout China have been proactive in working with investment firms and banks to provide loans in addition to investments with low return on investments. The strategy is geared toward providing a sound financial structure for China supply chain makers and to give the nation a more complete manufacturing industry.Media reports coming from China and Taiwan have stated the investments will initially be used to develop 8.5G fabs from the two makers despite expected oversupply in the market.Digitimes Research also recently found that while global large-size TFT-LCD panel shipments and revenues in 2015 are expected to decrease on year, BOE will see its large-size panel shipments and consolidated revenues for the year increase 43% and 37% respectively.

According to Digitimes Research, there were several developments that occurred in the smart home family segment throughout the end of 2015 into early 2016. Samsung Electronics announced that its entire 2016 Smart TV line-up will be Internet of Things (IoT) ready and connected with the SmartThings platform. SmartThings is an open platform that allows users to connect, manage and control smart devices and IoT services.Samsung has developed its own IoT hub technology with SmartThings for 2016 SUHD TVs meaning all Samsung's 2016 SUHD TVs will apply IoT hub technology, allowing the TV to act as the controller for the entire smart home. SUHD TVs can connect with and control Samsung devices and SmartThings sensors, as well as more than 200 other SmartThings compatible devices including everything from connected lights and locks to thermostats and cameras, from a wide range of high quality third party manufacturers, according to Samsung.Meanwhile, insurance companies including State Farm and Liberty Mutual have also bumped up efforts to promote smart home features to customers and even offer subsidies to those using the technology due to the advantages the technology has for reducing various risks and dangers in households.Additionally, Digitimes Research said Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) also announced it would be acquiring substantially all of the assets of the UPnP Forum. In exchange, OIC will offer membership to UPnP Forum members. The agreement will streamline and consolidate efforts around both organizations' technologies and infrastructure, leading to increased alignment on standardization for IoT.

Although Intel achieved a good market share in the tablet market in 2014 with an aggressive subsidy strategy, its overall shipments in 2015 only performed moderately instead of seeing strong growth as expected due to it cutting tablet solution subsidies and unsatisfactory smartphone solution shipments in 2015.The main factor that impacted Intel's mobile solution shipments in 2015 was issues with its product mix. Intel planned to phase out its Bay Trail-based solutions starting the second half of 2015, but the successor, Cherry Trail's, high prices and reduced subsidies plus the entry-level SoFIA solution's problems in software and coordination with the manufacturing process, which caused chips to have high power consumption issues, deterred clients from placing more orders, according to Digitimes Research.For 2016, Intel will continue to push its entry-level SoFIA SoC as its main product for the smartphone and tablet markets. The solution will later be integrated with a 4G baseband to help it become more competitive in the market. However, Digitimes Research believes the SoFIA 4G solution's performance will still be weaker than its competitors and Intel will need to rely on low prices and providing subsidies to sell the chips.For the Atom-series product line, Intel will mainly push its Cherry Trail baseband-less solution. The solution is expected to be adopted in some smartphones and will see good demand from makers of dual-OS tablet products as it is one of a few available solutions on the market that offers the performance of a productivity platform.

Since releasing their spring-season digital still camera (DSC) models in the first quarter of 2015, DSC vendors have launched very limited number of new devices, showing that they no longer have much interest in the DSC market, according to Digitimes Research's latest finding.The only exceptions are Sony and Canon, both of whom still released new DSCs every quarter during 2015. In the fourth quarter, both released high-end DSC models featuring large image sensors in order to differentiate their devices from smartphone cameras, Digitimes Research's report noted.After launching its high-end RX10 II and RX100 IV - which use stacked CMOS image sensors with DRAM chips - in third-quarter 2015, Sony released the RX1R II, featuring a full-frame CMOS sensor in the fourth quarter and bringing 40-megapixel resolution into the consumer DSC market.Meanwhile, Canon launched the G5 X and G9 X both equipped with a 1-inch 20.2-megapixel CMOS sensor in the fourth quarter. The G5 X has more features and is targeting mainly the high-end market, while the G9 X is more price friendly and is thinner and lighter.

Apple's iPhone shipments are expected to have registered single-digit percentage growth on year in the fourth quarter of 2015, but shipments are likely to drop 5.2-10.1% on year in the first quarter of 2016 as sales of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus both performed weaker than expected, according to Digitimes Research's latest iPhone report. However, the decline rate of iPhone sales in the first quarter of 2016 will be significant lower than orders to OEM iPhone makers and component suppliers for the quarter.Shipments of iPhone devices grew by an annual growth rate of over 50% from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2015 after Apple launched its iPhone 6/6 Plus in late September 2014. Although on-year growth slowed to 36% in the third quarter of 2015, sales of iPhone products accounted for over 60% of Apple's total revenues for four consecutive quarters through the quarter.Digitimes Research attributed the lackluster performance of the iPhone 6s/6s Plus to the impact of their iPhone 6 predecessors, which featured larger screens, and thus attracted high interest among consumers.Consequently, combined iPhone shipments for the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 are likely to lie within a range of 5% up or down as compared to combined shipments the same period of a year earlier, Digitimes Research estimated.Digitimes Research also found that there was a significant gap between the production volume of iPhone 6s/6s Plus by OEM suppliers and the sales volume of these devices by Apple for the third quarter of 2015 (Apple's fiscal fourth quarter of 2015). As a result, a total of 13-15 million iPhone 6s devices will be booked as deferred sales by Apple for the fourth quarter of 2015 (Apple's fiscal first-quarter 2016).Given that OEM iPhone orders for the fourth quarter of 2015 totaled over 75 million units, Digitimes Research believes that deferred sales booking will continue in the first quarter of 2016, widening the gap between end-market sales and orders to OEM suppliers for the quarter.

Taiwan makers' shipments of touch panels used in handset and notebook applications increased 21% and 33.9% respectively in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to Digitimes Research. Shipments for tablet applications increased only 4.7% due to weak product demand from customers, except Amazon.The tablet market has been shrinking and overall shipments for Apple tablet products 10-inch and below have been weakening. China vendors have also seen their white-box tablet sales decline, which has put a strain on tablet touch panel orders to China.Makers outside of Greater China meanwhile also saw strong handset touch panel shipments in the fourth quarter, surpassing Taiwan makers with overall 28.5% sequential growth, largely as a result of orders from Apple and Samsung Electronics.In terms of technology, demand for on-cell used in various applications has been on the rise, with Taiwan makers' overall shipments of the technology growing 28.5% on quarter during the fourth quarter. Innolux, HannStar Display and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) have all strengthened their presence in the market, with Innolux bumping up shipments to customers such as Motorola and Asustek. CPT and HannStar meanwhile increased shipments to ZTE, Coolpad and TCL for handset applications.Digitimes Research also noted that China makers' shipments of glass touch panels for handset applications saw only 16.7% growth due to rising demand for touch embedded applications.