The fourth quarter of 2014 is typically the busy season for touch panel makers. In China alone, makers experienced 9.8%, 7.1% and 2.5% sequential increases in the handset, tablet and notebook segments but will see declines of 17.9%, 24.8% and 13.4% respectively heading into the first quarter of 2015 as the industry enters the slow season, according to Digitimes Research.In the fourth quarter tablet applications saw some of the largest growth as vendors in China increased orders with local makers. Notebook touch panel shipments on the other hand were amongst the lowest of the figures as a number of metal mesh orders to O-Film were shifted to Taiwan makers. Heading into the first quarter of 2015, makers will see a decline as white-box brands fade from the market while orders for notebook applications will only see minor declines as new orders from Lenovo are still expected to be distributed to supply chains.In terms of makers, Truly has entered the Sony supply chain to supply OGS solutions for handsets in hope to make up for losses incurred from orders being shifted to Samsung. EELY meanwhile is continuing to cooperate with Samsung, but is shifting the cooperation from tablet developments to smartphone applications, which contributed to the maker's 19.3% decline in tablet touch panel shipments during the third quarter of 2014. However, the company will see the lowest sequential decline in the first quarter of 2015 at 12% due to orders from Samsung, said Digitimes Research.

Taiwan makers' LCD TV shipments reached 10.86 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, the first time they broke the 10 million mark since the first quarter of 2012, according to Digitimes Research.The amount is a 19.4% on-quarter increase and a 14.2% on-year increase. Total shipments for the makers in 2014 amounted to 36.14 million, up from 34.13 million in 2013.Taiwan makers held over a 50% share in LCD TVs shipped to North America in the fourth quarter and Foxconn Electronics saw major increases in shipments to the Mexico market. The makers' shipment proportion to Europe-based customers also increased.TVs sized 50-inch and above made up a larger portion of the makers' shipments during the fourth quarter while 32-inch units dropped below a 20% proportion.TPV, Foxconn and Wistron were the top three makers throughout the fourth quarter, with Wistron responsible for most TV supply to Vizio for Black Friday sales events.Looking to the first quarter of 2015, the makers' shipments are expected to drop about 20% on quarter to 8.38 million but grow 11% on year, according to Digitimes Research.

Shipments of handsets by Taiwan-based ODMs and brand vendors totaled 25.56 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, increasing 15% sequentially and over 50% from a year earlier, according to Digitimes Research.For all of 2014, handset shipments by Taiwan's suppliers amounted to 85.15 million units, showing an increase of 39% from the previous year.Handset ODMs Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) and Compal Electronics both saw their handset shipments gain over 15% sequentially in the fourth quarter thanks to pull-in orders from major clients including Sony Mobile Communications and Microsoft Mobile, said Digitimes Research.Brand vendor HTC managed to ramp up its shipments by 10% sequentially in the quarter, buoyed by the release of new mid-range models. Fourth-quarter smartphone shipments from Asustek Computer and Acer were up one million and 400,000 units, respectively, from a quarter earlier, powered by low-priced models.Mainstream smartphone models shipped by HTC and Asustek in the fourth quarter came mostly with 8- and 13-megapixel cameras, while the cameras used in the major ODM smartphones from Sony Mobile have also shifted to 8-megapixel from the 3-to 5-megapixel models used previously, Digitimes Research noted.

January average retail price for 7W LED light bulbs (equivalent to 40W incandescent ones) in the China market decreased 6.4% on month to CNY33.4 (US$5.4), while prices for 9W models (equivalent to 60W incandescents) increased 13.5% to CNY42.1, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in Japan in January stood at JPY1,709 (US$15.0) and JPY3,299 respectively, with the former rising 0.6% on month and the latter 1%, Digitimes Research indicated.January average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW13,542 (US$12.20, up 18.8% on month) and KRW14,191 (down 1.2%) in South Korea; US$21.70 (up 21.2%) and US$19.40 (down 1.0%) in the US; and EUR9.10 (US$11.10, down 4.2%) and EUR13.50 (down 4.3%) in Europe.Samsung Electronics' 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Philips' 60W-equivalent models for sale in South Korea had the highest average lumen-price ratios at 80.6lm/US$ and 97.7lm/US$ in January. In terms of luminous efficiency, Toshiba 40W- and 60-equivalent LED light bulbs available in Japan had the highest average levels at 81.1lm/W and 104.1lm/W.

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%.