In addition to Lenovo's N21 2-in-1 Chromebook launched in February and Asustek Computer's Chromebook Flip 2-in-1 device announced in April, Google, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Acer are also planning to unveil Chromebook products in the second half. With the devices, the market will see at least six branded 2-in-1 Chromebooks in 2015, showing that Google's aggressive moves to integrate Chromebook with Android are succeeding in promoting the devices in non-education markets.Google reportedly is planning to release two own-brand 2-in-1 Chromebooks: one for the high-end segment and another for the entry-level. Volume shipments will begin in the third quarter. The high-end model will feature a 12.85-inch display, using Nvidia's Tegra 6 processor, while the entry-level one will feature a 10.1-inch display, equipped with China-based Rockchip's solution. Both will adopt a detachable form factor design.Digitimes Research believes the release of the 12.85-inch model is aiming to compete against Apple's upcoming 12-inch iPad, which is ready to be released at the end of the year.HP plans to release one to two 2-in-1 Chromebooks in 2015; one of them will feature a convertible design similar to Asustek's Chromebook Flip. It will come with a 10.1-inch display and be released in the third quarter.The largest Chromebook vendor Acer will launch a new 2-in-1 Chromebook in the fourth quarter because the device is set to adopt Intel's upcoming Skylake processor. The device has an 11.6-inch display and also a convertible design.Observing the specifications and industrial design of these 2-in-1 Chromebooks, Digitimes Research has found these devices' processors come from various suppliers and are based on various architectures; therefore, it expects more processor suppliers to join the related supply chains.In terms of size, most of the devices will still emphasize their lightness, and therefore sub-12-inch display will be the mainstream specification. Although a convertible design is the most adopted one in these 2-in-1 Chromebooks, Digitimes Research expects detachable models to increase in 2016 as the operating system's user interface will gradually improve, accelerating the adoption of Chromebooks outside of the education market.

Demand for enthusiast class PC hardware which offers high-performance, reliability, and above all gives the end-user the ability to tweak, fine-tune and tinker, has seen a rapid increase over the past few years. While the overall desktop market has reached stagnation and begun to decline, annual growth in the number of overclockers between the period first-quarter 2013 and first-quarter 2014 was around 50%, and growth between first-quarter 2014 and first-quarter 2015 increased even further at around 100%, according to data compiled in the latest HWinsights Quarterly Report."PC component makers and vendors have, over the past several years, seen their key markets - mainstream (high-volume) and gaming (high-margin) - steadily cannibalized by alternatives including tablets, notebooks and games consoles," noted Pieter-Jan Plaisier, Director, HWBOT. "With their market shares and margins under constant pressure, the healthy overclocking market represents an opportunity hardware vendors simply cannot continue to underutilize with outdated product positioning and marketing strategies."One defining characteristic of the overclocking segment is that buyers are typically more than willing to pay a premium for the right components. Furthermore, in contrast to the mainstream and gaming desktop markets, budgets in the overclocking segment are actually increasing, HWinsights data showed. The total component cost of a typical mainstream overclocking system in first-quarter 2015 averaged EUR1050 (US$1175) increasing EUR70 on quarter, while spending on a high-end system reached EUR2610, up from EUR2385 in the previous quarter. These figures can be compared to typical spending of sub-US$500 on mainstream or sub-US$1000 on gaming desktops.Another key feature of the overclocking segment is its particularly rapid upgrade cycle. Mainstream consumers commonly wait until their current hardware fails before buying a replacement, and gamers have a typical upgrade cadence of every 2-3 hardware generations. Meanwhile, overclockers, are driven to own the latest-and-greatest, even if it offers only a marginal improvement over their current hardware, HWinsights noted.The growing overclocking segment presents an opportunity to open new markets and increase average selling prices (ASPs) for key component suppliers (in particular CPU, graphics card, motherboard, DRAM and PSU), as well as case and cooling solution players, and specialist system integrators, according to HWinsights.For players looking to succeed in the segment, the main challenges they are likely to face are relatively high technological and cost barriers, due to the increased R&D and component expenses involved in meeting the stringent quality standards demanded by the market, HWinsights noted.In addition, vendors may struggle to adapt their current "branding and specification" oriented marketing strategies to effectively engage the overclocking community, which is strongly influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations and constantly updated overclocking competition rankings.Total overclocking system cost by quarterSource: HWinsights

Lenovo outperformed domestic rival vendors Huawei and Xiaomi Technology to take the third position in the global smartphone vendor rankings in the first quarter of 2015, according to Digitimes Research.The top-2 vendors in the first quarter were Samsung Electronics and Apple, which together took over 50% of the global smartphone market in the quarter, Digitimes Research said.LG Electronics ranked fourth, followed by Huawei and Xiaomi Technology.The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus remained the top models in the first quarter, forcing other brands to delay their launches of respective flagship models.However, sales momentum of iPhone 6 devices is expected to start dwindling in the second quarter, as sales of Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge pick up steam.Most China-based vendors saw their shipments decline 10-20% in the first quarter due to a slowdown in demand in both overseas and domestic markets. However, China-based vendors are expected to further strengthen their deployments in overseas markets utilizing a low-pricing strategy.

Japan panel maker JDI is expected to surpass Sharp in revenues during fiscal 2015 due to the company's strong presence in the China market coupled with steady orders from Apple.According to Digitimes Research, JDI has been more successful in developing cooperation with vendors in China to supply handset panels used in high-end smartphones. Fellow maker Sharp has also been competing for orders but has seen weak results, one of the major reasons for the company incurring major losses in fiscal 2014.JDI's profit margin, however, is not expected to surpass that of major makers in Taiwan as the company is focused on small- to medium-size panels, a market that is expected to see oversupply in 2015.In the first quarter of 2015, Sharp's equity ratio reached 1.5%, drastically lower that the 19-24% of other vendors such as Hitachi and Panasonic, said Digitimes Research.

Capex from Korea-based panel makers Samsung Display and LG Display for AMOLED panels will drop from KRW7 trillion (US$6.9 billion) in 2014 to KRW6.7 trillion in 2015, according to Digitimes Research.Samsung Electronics aims to extend AMOLED panels into more of its mid-range handsets in addition to high-end units while LG Display is eyeing flexible OLED displays for various applications in addition to meeting expected demand from Apple.Samsung Display's capex in 2015 will be the same as its US$400 million in 2014 and will be used to expand AMOLED capacity in addition to flexible applications at its A2 and A3 facilities.Aside from supplying Samsung Electronics with panels for high-end units as well as displays for Galaxy A and E smartphones, the panel maker will also provide Samsung with increased smartwatch displays.LG's capex meanwhile will drop to KRW2.7 trillion, about what it was in 2009, with KRW1-1.2 trillion used for expanding AMOLED capacity at its E4 8G fab in addition to a 6G P6 factory for flexible displays, added Digitimes Research.

Japan-based Softbank will continue to foray into the robot market in Japan after launching the household robot 'Pepper' and business robot 'Asra C1', according to Digitimes Research.The Pepper is available at less than JPY200,000 (US$1,653), indicating that Softbank is testing the market with a low pricing strategy and will count more on the Asra C1 to stabilize its robot business.The software specifications and developer tools for the Pepper are open to the public, and Softbank also operates an app store to attract more third-party developers to joint the ecosystem. The Pepper, which is tall and has an LCD display on the front of its chest, is also popular in the business market.The Asra C1 is developed by Softbank's subsidiary, Asratec, and is powered by the V-Sido OS developed in-house. V-Sido OS can control and balance operation of the articulations of the Asra C1 in real time and serves as one of Softbank's core technologies for accelerating its deployment in the robot market, said Digitimes Research.

The production value of South Korea's memory chip industry soared 31% from a year earlier to almost KRW13 trillion (US$11.9 billion) in the first quarter of 2015, according Digitimes Research.The total production value consisted of KRW9.2 trillion for DRAM and KRW3.79 trillion for NAND flash, representing on-year growth of 33% and 26.4%, respectively, said Digitimes Research.With Samsung Electronics obtaining orders for SSD devices from Apple, and SK Hynix supplying NAND chips for the 128GB models of the iPhone 6, South Korea's NAND industry bit shipments saw larger growth than its DRAM industry bit shipments in the first quarter of 2015, Digitimes Research indicated.The NAND flash sector accounted for 29.2% of the overall production value of South Korea's memory chip industry in the first quarter of 2015, up from 27.7% in the prior quarter, Digitimes Research indicated.For the second quarter of 2015, the production value of South Korea's memory chip industry is forecast to increase 5-7% sequentially and about 30% from a year earlier, according to Digitimes Research.

Monitor vendors are continuing to tackle curved units sized 27-inch and above with 2560 by 1080 and Ultra HD resolutions as part of their strategy in the first half of 2015, according to Digitimes Research.In May, Samsung Electronics launched 29- and 27-inch curved units, the S29E790C and S27E591C, that feature similar resolutions.Vertical Display technology in addition to DisplayPort and HDMI dual-interfaces are also a focus for these units compared with previous units of similar sizes and above such as 34-inch units.34-inch units are Samsung's main push featuring Ultra HD resolution in the first half of 2015, added Digitimes Research.

Taiwan's major IC foundries will see their combined revenues decrease 4.5% sequentially in the second quarter of 2015, according to Digitimes Research. Weaker-than-expected smartphone shipments as well as downward pressure on the world economy have prompted many of IC suppliers to continue adjusting their inventory levels.Combined revenues of Taiwan's major foundries including TSMC, UMC and VIS are forecast to reach US$8.05 billion in the second quarter, down from US$8.45 billion in the first, said Digitimes Research. The revenues for first-quarter 2015 were 7.8% higher than the levels a year earlier.The anticipated on-year increase, however, is smaller than the more than 10% growth usually seen in the same quarter in previous years, Digitimes Research noted.Taiwan's major foundries will also see their product ASPs fall further in the second quarter, due to an overall fall in combined revenues generated from 28nm and 20nm process technologies, as well as declining production utilization rates at the foundries, Digitimes Research said.

Taiwan-based makers will ship 41.579 million smartphone-use touch panels in the second quarter of 2015, increasing 23.5% on quarter but decreasing 22.3% on year, 8.941 million tablet-use units, up 7.2% and down 15% respectively, and 2.175 million notebook-use units, up 34% and 16.0% respectively, according to Digitimes Research.Combined shipments of smartphone-use, tablet-use and notebook-use touch panels will account for 12%, 16.9% and 53.1% respectively of global total, Digitimes Research indicated.Of Taiwan-based makers' smartphone-use touch panels in particular, 48.4% will be of thin-film capacitive models, 24.9% On-Cell, 17.9% OGS (one glass solution) and 8.8% GG (glass-on-glass). Innolux and General Interface Solution, both belonging to the Foxconn Group, together will account for 28.6% of shipments, TPK Holding for 25%, J Touch 13.3% and Young Fast Optoelectronics 12.8%.