Global capacity for TFT applications sized 9-inch and above will increase 7.1% on year in 2016, the highest on-year increase since 2011, according to Digitimes Research.Large-size LCD panel capacity in China specifically will drive the overall global growth, increasing 28.2% on year in 2016 and 17.7% on year in 2017. The expected growth will come mainly as China and Korea panel makers expand 8.5G production in China.In 2016, China will account for 26% of global large-size LCD panel capacity and 29% in 2017. By 2018 when China unveils new capacity at 10.5G and 8.5G fabs the country is expected to hold the number two position globally in large-size LCD production, said Digitimes Research.

China panel makers' shipments of small- to medium-size panels in the second half of 2015 are expected to grow 15.5% over the first half of the year, which will also represent a 6.7% on-year increase, according to Digitimes Research.BOE is continuing to push forward production of tablet panels on its 8.5G facilities and is increasing its production proportion of handset panels on 6G production lines. CEC Panda meanwhile is continuing to increase mass production of small- to medium-size panels while Tianma Optoelectronics 5.5G facilities will run at full capacity. These trends come as the white-box tablet market and feature handset segment are shrinking in China.In the second half, handset panels will account for 76% of China makers' overall small- to medium-size panel shipments, with shipments increasing 7.8% over the first half of the year. However, compared with the second half of 2014 this shipment figure represents a 0.1% decline. Digitimes Research said this is due to a slowdown in orders from white-box handset vendors coupled with increased competition from Japan- and Korea-based panel makers.Tablet applications only accounted for 6% of China makers' overall small- to medium-size panel shipments in the first half of 2015 but that percentage will increase to 9% due to BOE receiving a new influx of orders coupled with new production efforts from CEC Panda. New tablet panel orders will help China makers' achieve 9.3% on-year growth in tablet panel shipments during the second half of 2015 and BOE is expected to hold the largest shipment share at around 75%, said Digitmes Research.

September average retail pricing for 7W LED light bulbs (40W incandescent equivalents) in the China market increased 7.5% on month to CNY33.0 (US$5.2), while that for 9W models (60W incandescent equivalents) rose 5.8% to CNY36.2, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in the Japan market in September stood at JPY1,672 (US$14.0) and JPY2,726 respectively, the former slipping 3% on month and the latter 0.9%, Digitimes Research indicated.September average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW9,936 (US$8.9, down 0.9% on month) and KRW13,038 (up 0.6%) in South Korea; US$19.8 (up 6.5%) and US$20.1 (up 8.6%) in the US; EUR8.1 (US$9.0, up 3.8%) and EUR13.0 (up 4.8%) in Europe.Philips 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and 60W-equivalent models for sale in South Korea had the highest average lumen-price ratios of 99.8lm/US$ and 125.9lm/US$ respectively in September. In terms of luminous efficiency, Toshiba 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and 60-equivalent models available in the Japan market had the highest average levels of 82.7lm/W and 105.1lm/W respectively.

3GPP (the Third Generation Partnership Project) has specified User Equipment Category 0 (Cat. 0) technology standards in its Release 12 (R12), the first step to boosting application of LTE technology for the Internet of Things (IoT), according to Digitimes Research.Cat. 0 in R12 is specifically for machine-type communications, Digitimes Research indicated. In order to lower hardware costs and power consumption for IoT applications, many hardware specification standards are lowered in Cat. 0, such as uplink and downlink data rates of 1Mbps compared to 5.2Mbps and 10.3Mbps respectively in Cat. 1, R8, as well as one RF receiver chain in Cat. 0 compared with two in Cat. 1. Cat. 0 allows semi-duplexing to reduce hardware costs and prolongs the TAU (tracking area update) cycle time to increase the service life of batteries.Telecom equipment makers and telecom carriers will need to test the technological feasibility and market acceptability of the Cat. 0 standards, and 3GPP is expected to improve standards in R13 to be published in 2016.

In March 2015, China's Premier Li Keqiang announced the Internet of Things (IoT) plus concept, looking to accelerate industry transformation and will treat the concept as a new core of the country's economic development. Digitimes Research has found that China's strategy to raise its GDP growth by relying on its strong exports in the past several decades is no longer working and the government has started turning to focus on expanding domestic demand as the new economic growth engine.According to estimates of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China's information consumption will reach CNY3.2 trillion in 2015 and its contribution to the country's GDP will also reach a new high at 13.3%. This means that the China government is looking to achieve both industry transformation and economic growth via expanding the scale of its Internet development.China's broadband network development policies have experienced three different phases of transformation since 2010. Prior to 2013 was the first phase when the country's policies were mainly focused on ICT infrastructure establishment. From 2013-2014, broadband network development was raised to a national strategic level. In 2015, concepts such as IoT, big data and cloud computing have been appointed by China's State Council as core values of the country's next-phase of national economic transition.In fact, China's fixed broadband infrastructure has been greatly improved since 2013 thanks to two waves of enhancement projects led by MIIT, especially optic fiber network establishment, which achieved much better progress than expected.By the second quarter of 2015, China's optic fiber network covered 330 million families, accounting for 77% of the country's total number of families. China has over 90 million optic fiber network users, making the network the mainstream technology of the fixed broadband market, surpassing xDSL.However, observing the country's fixed network popularization and overall transmission speed, China still has a large gap compared to countries with mature network development because the market lacks competition and the country's urban-rural gap is still too large.Although China Mobile obtaining a fixed broadband network operation license between 2013-2014 and the foundation of the China Radio and Television Network have increased the number of competitors in the fixed broadband network market to four, the move has not triggered much competition.With IoT plus policies becoming official, the China government is aggressively pushing related players to reduce their prices and raise transmission speeds and has even allowed non-official players to start operating in the fixed broadband market, but Digitimes Research believes these moves will only have a limited effect on loosening up China's fixed network market, which has been monopolized by a few players.

Taiwan's top-three IC foundries are experiencing a particularly weak third quarter with their combined revenues set to decrease 0.8% sequentially and 3.7% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Combined revenues of Taiwan's major foundries including TSMC, UMC and VIS are forecast to reach US$8.03 billion in the third quarter of 2015, down from US$8.09 billion in the prior quarter and US$8.33 billion a year earlier, said Digitimes Research.Mobile chip suppliers started to slow down the pace of orders in the second quarter due to disappointing end-market demand, and have been engaged in inventory adjustments, Digitimes Research indicated. The unfavorable situation led to the lower combined revenues from Taiwan's top foundries in the third quarter despite the period being the traditionally peak season, Digitimes Research said.Despite the revenue fall, Taiwan's top foundries will see their combined ASPs rise in the third quarter thanks to an increase in the revenue ratio for advanced 45/40nm and below processes, Digitimes Research said.In addition, TSMC's 16nm process technology has started generating revenues in the third quarter of 2015, Digitimes Research noted. The foundry set to enjoy robust growth in revenues from its 16nm node manufacturing in the fourth quarter.

There will be 7.5 million smart meters installed in Japan, including replacement of conventional electric meters, in 2015, hiking 104.9% on year, according to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and industry (METI).Japan will liberalize its power market starting April 2016, allowing users to choose their power suppliers and differential rates, and power suppliers have been boosting installation of smart meters, Digitimes Research indicated.According to 10 power suppliers' schedules of smart meter installation, Tokyo Electric Power will complete installation of smart meters for all of its users the earliest by 2020. On the whole, completion of smart meter installation for low-voltage power users (households, small stores, etc.) is scheduled for 2016 and high-voltage ones (factories, large facilities, etc.) by 2024.Use of HEMS (home energy management system) devices is increasing along with installation of smart meters. HEMS device users can browse about power consumption for every HEMS-supporting electric home-use appliance based on smartphones, tablets and other types of hand-held devices. According to Fuji-Keizai forecast, the cumulative number of HEMS device users will grow from 260,000 in 2014 to 1.6 million in 2020.

LCD TV average pricing for 55-inch units was higher than 60-inch units in many markets in June through August while 65-inch units have declined 15% on average across five major markets including the UK, US, Japan, China and Germany, according to Digitimes Research.Average pricing for 55-inch units has come down to US$1,608 while 65-inch units have been on the incline to about US$3,216 per unit largely due to increased pricing in the UK.Most vendors have focused on the two sizes over recent months while minimalizing developments for 46- to 48-inch units, which consequently has resulted in a downward trend in pricing for the sizes, said Digitimes Research.

Digitimes Research has found that ASPs for CMOS-based compact digital camera models in August rose 13% from June as many vendors have launched their new high-end DSCs such as Sony's RX10 II and RX100 IV, Canon's G3 X and Panasonic's FZ300. Most of these devices come with 1-inch large-size sensors and are able to take Ultra HD quality image with large apertures.However, Digitimes Research believes Sony's RX10 II and RX100 IV's weak optical zoom ability, which supports only to 8.3x compared to most other competitors' above 20x ability, will cripple demand for the devices.On the other hand, Canon has greatly enhanced the G3 X's optical zoom ability and is able support up to 25x. The improvement is expected to increase its attractiveness to buyers.

Apple Watch sales are estimated at 9-12 million units despite the fact that the company is planning to sell the wearable in more markets.Apple also noted that its App Store has over 10,000 apps that support the Apple Watch including Facebook Messenger, iTranslate, Transit and GoPro. But most of these apps already have corresponding apps in the Android Wear platform, so the number of apps is not adding much of an advantage to Apple's watchOS 2, Digitimes Research believes.While Apple provides many choices for the Apple Watch's color and wrist band design, Digitimes Research believes a lack of killer apps may dampen demand for the device.