The monitor market saw various developments in November, namely the release of curved high-end monitor technology from Samsung Electronics and new Ultra HD monitors from Lenovo and Acer.Samsung released its S27D590C for as low as US$490 in the China market. The device comes equipped with vertical alignment technology and panels developed by Samsung Display.Lenovo and Acer meanwhile each launched new Ultra HD units, including the PRO2840M at about US$655 and the CB280HK at US$590.Dell, Samsung Electronics and IIYAMA have Ultra HD monitors using TN technology and equipped with HDMI and DisplayPort technology, added Digitimes Research.

Pricing for LCD TVs in the 46- to 48-inch range declined 8.4% in November to around on average of US$810, according to Digitimes Research. The pricing includes the US, Germany, UK, Japan and China markets.However, 60-inch TV pricing on average increased from US$1,709 to US$1,741 as demand increased due to the holiday period.TVs sized 32-inch meanwhile increased from US$302 in October to US$326 in November.Taiwan makers' shipments of LCD TVs reached 8.96 million units in the third quarter of 2014, up 3.2% on quarter and up 0.1% on year. Looking to the fourth quarter, Taiwan makers can expect to see shipments hit 9.56 million units, up 6.2% on quarter. Total shipments will reach nearly 35 million units in 2014, about 10 million less than the volume seen in 2011 when Taiwan's LCD TV shipments peaked, said Digitimes Research.

At the Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) 2014, many IT vendors showcased their latest wearable devices with white-box smart bracelets being a spotlight at the show, and competition among players was rather fierce.GPS and Bluetooth sport smartwatches are growing popular among joggers in the US and Europe. GPS and camera smartwatches also see good demand in the children market. Digitimes Research expects more white-box players to join the two sectors in the first half of 2015.Since the smart bracelet industry has a low entry barrier, many China-based white-box players have used standardized modules to tap the market. However, these wearable devices are seeing fierce price competition due to lack of differentiations, according to Digitimes Research's latest report on wearable devices.With the jogging markets in the US and Europe having seen a significant increase in smartwatch demand, GPS device vendors have been aggressively developing sport smartwatches featuring GPS functions. White-box players have also launched Bluetooth sport smartwatches for monitoring body conditions.Conventional watch vendors are still placing their focuses on developing hybrid watches with long battery life and so far have shown little interest in smartwatches that are able to connect with smartphones.Smartphone-connectable smartwatches are mostly being developed by white-box and tablet vendors and most of the devices introduced in the third quarter adopted MediaTek's MT62XX solution. Several white-box players are set to adopt MediaTek's Linkit and Rockchip's solution for their smartwatches for 2015.Meanwhile, white-box players have also started focusing on developing children smartwatches including models featuring camera modules for learning and playing purposes, as well as GPS models to prevent children from getting lost.Digitimes Research believes that white-box players' smart bracelets are unlikely to contribute strong revenues due to fierce price competition. GPS and Bluetooth sport smartwatches are expected to benefit from the growing demand in the US and Europe.

The LCD TV contract manufacturing market is expected to surpass 50 million units in 2015, with Taiwan makers expected to be responsible for 38.33 million, according to Digitimes Research.The entire LCD TV market is estimated to reach 229 million units in 2015, which means Taiwan makers will be responsible for producing 16.8% of the share, up from 16.1% in 2014.Taiwan's growth is expected to come mainly from Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), which has secured increased orders to Mexico in addition to Vizio, a major client of Taiwan makers, continuing to see growth in North America. Compal will also see steady shipments to Toshiba while various makers can expect to benefit from Sony orders.Foxconn may also see more than 10 million in unit shipments during 2015 to give the company 30% on-year growth and Amtran will see steady orders from Sharp, said Digitimes Research.Digitimes Research also noted that Taiwan makers' shipments of LCD TVs reached 8.96 million units in the third quarter of 2014, up 3.2% on quarter and up 0.1% on year. TPV, Foxconn and Wistron were the top three makers in terms of shipments during the quarter, with Wistron seeing significant shipment increases to Vizio. Compal meanwhile saw less-than-expected shipments to Toshiba while Vizio decreased orders to Amtran.Looking to the fourth quarter, Taiwan makers can expect to see shipments hit 9.56 million units, up 6.2% on quarter. Total shipments will reach nearly 35 million units in 2014, about 10 million less than the volume seen in 2011 when Taiwan's LCD TV shipments peaked, said Digitimes Research.

October average retail pricing for 7W LED light bulbs (equivalent to 40W incandescents) in the China market increased 2.4% on month to CNY34.70 (US$5.70), while that for 9W models (equivalent to 60W incandescents) fell 0.2% to CNY41.60, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in Japan in October stood at JPY1,668 (US$15) and JPY3,370 respectively, rising 0.2% and 9.7% on month, Digitimes Research indicated.October average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW11,450 (US$11.5, down 8.1% on month) and KRW14,256 (down 2.3%) in South Korea; US$17.5 (down 9.8%) and US$20.8 (up 5.1%) in the US; EUR11.50 (US$14.70, down 12.9%) and EUR14.20 (up 11.8%) in Europe.Samsung Electronics 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs for sale in the South Korea market had the highest average lumen-price ratios of 72.5lm/US$ and 90.4lm/US$ respectively in October. In terms of luminous efficiency, Samsung 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs available in South Korea and Toshiba 60W-equivalent models for sale in Japan had the highest average levels of 77.1lm/W and 103.5lm/W respectively.

As users of white-box servers (produced by ODMs and sold directly to clients) mostly need a large number of small-size, low-power and inexpensive models pre-installed with Linux and customized to some extent, white-box servers are mostly rack or micro types instead of towers or blades.The users usually have in-house technical teams to handle their servers' maintenance and find server brand vendors' designs limiting their operations; therefore, they have turned to supplies directly from ODMs.Although blade-type servers have advantages over the small form factor, the users' demand for blade servers is still limited because many blade servers' rack designs are not compatible with others. To avoid incompatibility, many users have chosen micro or large-size rack type servers, Digitimes Research's findings showed.Choosing Linux for operating system also helps to reduce overall costs.

Taiwan-based ODMs and own-brand makers shipped 18.4 million smartphones in total in the third quarter of 2014, increasing 6% on quarter and 11.7% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Together with feature phones, Taiwan-based ODMs and own-brand makers shipped 20.9 million handsets in the quarter, slipping on quarter by 1.2% but growing on year by 25.8%, Digitimes Research indicated.WCDMA models accounted for 79.4% of the handset shipments, CDMA 2000 for 11% and GSM 9.6%. ODM Chi Mei Communication Systems accounted for 31.1% of the shipments, HTC 23%, Compal Electronics 17.7%, Arima Communications 13.8% and Asustek Computer 13.4%.

Lenovo and Asustek are expected to release Chromebooks using Google-certified solutions from China-based Rockchip in the first half of 2015 at the latest, and their devices are expected to be priced at US$149, a new low for notebook products, according to Digitimes Research's latest finding from the Greater China supply chain.Rockchip is a first-tier tablet application processor (AP) designer in China and has recently cooperated with Intel over chip design and the distribution of Intel's SoFIA chips.In October 2014, Lenovo announced a 10.1-inch Android notebook using Rockchip's RK3188 solution and Digitimes Research estimates that Lenovo's RK3288-based 11.6-inch Chromebook will become available in the market at the end of 2014 at the earliest or in the first half of 2015 at the latest. Asustek's 11.6-inch Chromebook is expected to be released in 2015.Digitimes Research expects Lenovo's and Asustek's 11.6-inch Chromebooks to be priced at US$149, 25% lower than the US$199 of the C720 from Acer, the largest Chromebook vendor currently.The new price point will further reduce notebooks' ASPs and also put strong pressure on Microsoft, which launched an inexpensive licensing project in 2014, looking to halt Chromebook's development.

Global large-size TFT LCD shipments are expected to only increase 0.5% in 2015 due to weak demand for monitor and notebook applications coupled with limited growth in the tablet segment, according to Digitimes Research.LCD TV demand is expected to remain steady, however, and applications such as public displays will see steady shipments. Additionally, the average-size TV panel shipped in 2015 will increase 1.2-inch to 40.5-inch, which will push large-size TFT LCD panel surface demand up by 8.2% on year.About 90% of the on-year growth is expected to come from TV panels while the rest will be driven by larger-size monitors in addition to other applications.In 2014, large-size LCD panel production capacity increased 2.1% and is expected to increase another 5.9% following announcements from panel makers such as Innolux and AU Optronics (AUO) to expand production.About 76% of large-size LCD panel surface demand comes from TV panels, added Digitimes Research.

Shipments of application processors for tablets in the China market grew at a lower-than-expected 5.9% sequentially in the third quarter of 2014 as sales of white-box tablets were affected by the roll-outs of low-priced models by brand vendors, according to Digitimes Research.MediaTek saw shipments of its tablet-use APs soar 25% sequentially in the third quarter, with total shipments surpassing China-based rival Rockchip Electronics. But MediaTek's share in China's tablet AP market edged down to 22.6% in the third quarter from 27.2% a quarter earlier due to strong shipment growth posted by Intel.Sales of tablet APs by Rockchip and fellow company Allwinner Technology were also affected by growing shipments from Intel and saw their shipments decline 11.8% and 10%, respectively, on quarter.Intel posted a 150% sequential growth in tablet AP shipments in the quarter, but not all of its tablet APs were being used for the production of tablets. Some were stockpiled as inventory and some were built into devices other than tablets, Digitimes Research indicated.