Global tablet shipments are expected to plunge by 30% sequentially to 52.15 million units in the first quarter of 2015, according to Digitimes Research.Affected by the growing popularity of large-size smartphones, shipments of iPad devices will reach only 13.1 million units in first-quarter 2015, decreasing 40% sequentially, Digitimes Research estimated.Shipments from white-box tablet makers are likely to sink 26.6% sequentially to 18.5 million units in the first quarter as most makers are phasing out from the low-end segment, while shipments of new Windows-based tablets are still limited.Samsung will turn more conservative about the prospects of tablets in the first quarter, expecting to roll out a limited number of modified versions of its entry-level to mid-range models for the quarter. However,Lenovo will exert more efforts to ramp up its shipments in order to dress up its performance for the last quarter of its fiscal year (2014/2015).The business outlook for Taiwan-based tablet ODMs is also not optimistic in the first quarter, with combined shipments of all ODMs to drop below 20 million units in the quarter. However, Compal will see its shipments of iPad mini begin to increase in the quarter, as Pegatron will discontinue the production of iPad mini.

Shipments of smartphones in the China market grew 10.8% on quarter and 13.2% on year to 103.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, driven by the release of iPhone 6 devices as well as low-priced 4G models by local vendors, according to Digitimes Research.International brands accounted for 30% of China's smartphone market in the fourth quarter, with Apple leading vendors with a 15% share. China-based Xiaomi Technology ranked second-largest, while Samsung Electronics took the third position. Apple, Xiaomi and Samsung together accounted for 40% of the smartphone market in the quarter.Affected by seasonality and inventory adjustments at vendors, local and international brands are expected to see their shipments tumble 10-20% and 15-30%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter.Overall, China's smartphone shipments are expected to total 87.8 million units in the first quarter of 2015, down 15.5% from a quarter earlier but up 0.9% from a year earlier, Digitimes Research estimated.

Taiwan makers' shipments of large-size panels are expected to reach 60.87 million in the first quarter of 2015, down 9.2% on quarter and down 2.2% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Despite the overall decline, Taiwan makers' LCD TV panel shipments will see increased growth at around 10% due to purchases from Samsung Electronics and various China-based vendors.Panel makers are in fact expected to see tight supply for LCD TV panels during the quarter and are requiring some vendors make long-term purchase agreements or large quantity purchases in order to help sustain their businesses.Some vendors have already agreed to one-year commitments through 2015 starting in the first quarter, which means that supply is already being issued to relevant customers, hence the steady LCD TV panel demand in the quarter.Taiwan panel makers are also adjusting production capacity for LCD monitor panel applications in order to increase production of LCD TV panels, which will also help the makers maintain higher utilization rates, said Digitimes Research.

Shipments of smartphone-use application processors (AP) in China are expected to decline 10% sequentially but up 28.6% on year in the first quarter of 2015, according to Digitimes Research. The sequential decline is due to excessive orders placed by device vendors in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Digitimes Research.But for individual AP vendors, Qualcomm and Spreadtrum Communications will see their shipments decline significantly in the quarter, Digitimes Research's latest report noted.Qualcomm's Snapdragon S400 and S600-series APs are facing strong challenges from comparable parts from MediaTek, and the performance-cost structure of its 600-series APs are weaker than MediaTek's. Meanwhile, Spreadtrum will see its shipments plunge 18.8% sequentially in the quarter due to reducing demand from emerging markets and a lack of LTE solutions.MediaTek will fare better than Qualcomm with its AP shipments declining 14.5% on quarter, as increasing shipments of its 4G-enabled MT6752 and MT6732 solutions will help offset declinging 3G solution shipments.However, Nvidia will see its shipments plunge sharply in the firsh quarter as XiaomiTechnology has decided to discontinue the adoption of Tegra family chips. HiSiliconTechnologies will perform strongly in the first quarter on orders from Huawei, while Samsung Electronics will also be able to expand the market share of its Exynos chips in China thanks to orders from China-based vendor Meizu.

682 products offered by 128 vendors/makers had obtained Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) technological certification for wireless power charging as of the end of 2014, while there were only 24 products offered by eight vendors/makers passing certification by the Power Matters Alliance (PMA), according to Digitimes Research.WPC and PMA are two of the three wireless power charging interest groups, with the other one being the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) which has not yet released certification information, Digitimes Research indicated.Among international handset vendors, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are members of WPC, PMA and A4WP while Apple, Lenovo and Xiaomi Technology have not yet joined any of the three groups.Among IC design houses, Integrated Device Technology, Texas Instruments and MediaTek have been the most active in R&D for wireless power charging chip solutions and are members of WPC, PMA and A4WP.In terms of wireless power charging technology, WPC and PMA originally focused on magnetic induction while A4WP focuses on magnetic resonance. However, WPC has started developing magnetic resonance also, and in February 2014 PMA announced a technological partnership with A4WP to step into magnetic resonance.

Ability Enterprise, Altek, Asia Optical and Foxconn Electronics together shipped 3.99 million digital cameras during the fourth quarter of 2014, increasing 13.9% on quarter and 15.7% on year, according to Digitimes Research.In terms of image sensor and resolution, 16-megapixel CMOS accounted for 43.7% of shipments, 16-megapixel CCD for 27.5%, 20-megapixel CMOS and CCD together for 22% and 18-megapixel CMOS for 5.5%, according Digitimes Research's latest Taiwan ICT Tracker report on digital cameras. Nikon was the largest client accounting for 43.2% of shipments, followed by Sony (18.5%), Casio (8.8%), Fujifilm (8.8%), Samsung Electronics (7.5%), Olympus (4.5%) and Panasonic (2.5%).Among the four ODMs, Ability Enterprise accounted for 68.5% of shipments, Altek (23.5%), Foxconn (4.5%) and Asia Optical (3.5%).There were an estimated 42.29 million digital cameras shipped globally in 2014, slipping 31.5% on year, and global shipments in 2015 are expected to drop 25%.

Although white-box tablet shipments declined in the fourth quarter of 2014, global overall tablet shipments in the quarter still grew sequentiallyby 16.9% to reach 74.77 million units thanks to Apple and non-Apple first-tier vendors' strong performances, according to Digitimes Research's latest report on the global tablet industry.With inexpensive Android-based tablets offering almost no profit, many small white-box tablet players in Southeastern China have given up the market, while large ones have turned to sell Windows-based tablets or smartphones looking for better profits. White-box tablet shipments reached only 25.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 4.9% sequentially and 10.3% on year, figures compiled by Digitimes Research show.Apple shipped 21.9 million tablets in the fourth quarter of 2014 because of its aggressive promotions and pricing. Apple was the largest tablet vendor worldwide in the quarter.Second-place Samsung Electronics did not launch new products in the second half of 2014 and its promotion efforts were also weaker than expected, causing its shipments in the fourth quarter to drop compared to a year ago.Amazon surpassed Lenovo to take third place in the fourth quarter of 2014 because of strong sales for its inexpensive tablets. Lenovo and Asustek Computer, ranked number four and five, respectively, both recorded weaker-than-expected shipments in the quarter.As for Taiwan ODMs' tablet shipments, Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Compal Electronics oth saw significant shipment growths in the fourth quarter of 2014. However, Pegatron Technology's shipments dropped in the quarter as Apple started gradually to shift its iPad mini orders from Pegatron to Compal.

Shipments of smartphones by China-based vendors declined 8.8% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2014, affected by weaker than expected sales for some brand vendors, according to Digitimes Research.For the first quarter of 2015, China's overall smartphone shipments are expected to suffer a further sequential drop of over 20% due to the impact of seasonality in overseas markets. As a result, vendors which have a high ratio of export sales, may suffer a decline of over 30% sequentially in the quarter.Huawei shipped 16.7 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2014, recapturing the number one handset vendor title in the quarter, followed by TCL with shipments of 14.1 million units, while Lenovo and Xiaomi Technology co-shared the third title each shipping 13.8 million units.Meanwhile, ZTE saw its shipments decline over 15% in the fourth quarter of 2014, affected by its falling brand image and mounting competition from rival vendors including TCL and Huawei.Although Oppo has made headways in Southeast Asia, its shipments sank 7.2% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to sluggish demand in the domestic market, which accounted for 80% of its total shipments, Digitimes Research noted.

Taiwan makers' shipments of large-size (9-inch and above) TFT LCD panels reached 66.99 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 1.4% on quarter but up 4.2% on year, according to Digitimes Research.The makers total large-size TFT LCD panel shipments for 2014 reached 264.6 million, up 4.4% on year, which was slightly higher than the global average of 3.6%.The overall on-year increase came as the global TFT LCD industry rebounded driven largely by demand for TV displays. The decline in the fourth quarter meanwhile was due to fluctuations in orders from Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, and Taiwan makers did not make adjustments to their capacities.BOE, LG Display and Samsung Display on the other hand have opened new capacities at China-based 8.5G facilities, with BOE witnessing some of the largest capacity and yield increases at its Hefei-based fab. Such developments led to an over 15% sequential increase in large-size TFT LCD shipments, with TV, monitor and PC applications all increasing.China-based China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) meanwhile saw a 9% increase in TV panel shipments during the fourth quarter of 2014 driven by orders from the TCL Group, added Digitimes Research.

LG Chem exhibited a 320x320mm OLED lighting panel at the Lighting Japan 2015 taking place during January 14-16, with the panel having the highest lumen-price ratio of 5lm/US$ among all similar products at the show, according to Digitimes Research.LG Chem attained luminous efficiency of 100lm/W for its OLED lighting panels at the end of 2014 and aims to hike it to 120lm/W in 2015 and 130lm/W in 2016, Digitimes Research indicated.Japan-based Konica Minolta currently leads in OLED lighting luminous efficiency with 139lm/W and flexible OLED production capacity with a monthly level of one million panels. Konica Minolta adopts roll-to-roll process to produce flexible OLED panels, a process enabling low costs for equipment and material, and high yield rates.