China touch panel makers are making slower-than-expected progress producing in-cell and on-cell touch panel technology during 2014, according to findings from Digitimes Research.Digitimes Research recently visited FPD China 2014 and found that major touch panel makers such as BOE, Tianma and China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) are behind in their originally estimated schedule for producing in-cell and on-cell touch panel technology and instead are turning to producing other touch technologies.Some of those technologies include carbon nanotube, graphene, metal mesh and nano silverwire, which have all undergone mass production as of 2014, said Digitimes Research, adding that the China makers plan to use graphene thin-film touch panels for use in white-box handsets.Digitimes Research also said that Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) was also in attendance to display advancements in its glass products and is reportedly further cooperating with Taiwan touch panel makers to produce new touch panels in 2014.

Samsung Display and LG Display are expected to hold a 50% or above share of large-size (9-inch and above) TFT LCD panel supply capacity throughout 2017, according to Digitimes Research.China-based panel makers have taken the industry by storm when news of new 8.5G lines set to be unveiled over the next few years spread through the media recently. While some market observers believe the makers are aiming to increase production capacity mostly in the large-size panel segment, Digitimes Research noted the makers, such as BOE, will focus mostly on small- to medium-size panel production.Taiwan's panel makers meanwhile currently do not have plans to increase production capacity for large-size TFT LCD panels in the near future, and will be responsible for about 25% of large-size TFT LCD production capacity throughout 2017, which will allow Korea-based panel makers to maintain a steady hold in the large-size segment.Production capacity for large-size TFT LCD panels is expected to increase no more than 2% in 2014, noted Digitimes Research.

Samsung started flooding the tablet market with new devices in the first quarter and is pushing its new 12.2-inch tablets, featuring a new user interface and multi-tasking abilities, as its main products for the enterprise market. However, because the devices have weaker price/performance ratios compared to notebooks of similar pricing and most of Android's enterprise applications are inferior to those of the PC platform, Digitimes Research expects Samsung's 12.2-inch tablet shipments to reach only around one million units in 2014.Out of profitability concerns, Samsung stopped trying to bump up its notebook shipments through low-price strategies in the second half of 2013 and the strategy change resulted in a drop of its quarterly notebook shipments to from 3.5-4 million units to only 2-2.5 million. With the 12.2-inch tablets, Samsung is hoping the devices to help offset the declines in the notebook market.Instead of pursuing better hardware specifications, Samsung placed its focus on developing a new user interface, software, applications as well as software-hardware integration, and is cooperating with third-party service providers to strengthen applications. Through these efforts, Samsung is aiming to strength the tablets' penetration into the enterprise market and enhance their competitiveness.However, Digitimes Research believes Samsung's 12.2-inch tablets will have difficulties competiting against notebooks in the enterprise market in the short term. Currently, even the most entry-level 12.2-inch tablet from Samsung, the TabPRO 12.2 starts at US$649. The high-end NotePRO's US$849 starting price is already the price of a mid-range/high-end notebook. Except for a thinner and lighter industrial design and a longer battery life, the 12.2-inch tablets have no other competitive edge against a similar-level enterprise notebook in terms of component specifications such as processor performance, memory and storage capacities.In addition, Android's lack of apps for tablets and limited enterprise and professional apps compared to the Windows and Mac platforms, are expected to impact the Android platform's ability to satisfy enterprise users' various needs. Even existing apps are having issues supporting some of Samsung's specially designed functions such as multi-windows and hovering touch.

China-based Huawei and CoolPad have both recently launched their new low-price high-specification phablets in China, aiming to grab shares from the high-end phablet market. Both vendors have adopted similar online hunger marketing strategies for the devices.Compared to most first-tier vendors' entry-level to mid-range phablets in emerging markets, the two vendors' devices carry attractive price/performance ratios, and their specifications, quality and prices are all capable of competing against mid-range smartphones in China, according to Digitimes Research's analysis.Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics, which is aiming to become the largest tablet vendor by 2015, has launched the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite for the entry-level market. However, the tablet's price has no advantages compared to its similar-level competitors.Hewlett-Packard (HP) has released its Slate 7 VoiceTab in India. Although the device has beaten Samsung's similar-level tablet in terms of certain specifications, it does not have obvious advantages over its competitions.

Despite the slow-season performance of China's smartphone market, chipmaker MediaTek's smartphone application processor (AP) shipments in the first quarter continue to see strong growth like it did during the previous quarter. The good price/performance ratios of MediaTek's entry-level and mid-range WCDMA smartphone APs have boosted their popularity among emerging markets.Seeing MediaTek's rapid penetration into emerging markets, its competitors, particularly Spreadtrum, face great challenges defending their market shares. Spreadtrum used to focus on supplying EDGE and WCDMA smartphone AP products to emerging markets, but its shipments have begun to drop sharply since early 2014 with a pace even faster than the decline its single-core TD-SCDMA products saw during the second half of 2013.According to Digitimes Research's figures, Spreadtrum's smartphone AP shipments in January and February 2014 were only half of those of the same months in 2013 and were even lower than its monthly average of the second half of 2013. Although market watchers expect the China chipmaker's shipments to improve in March, it is unlikely to help it fully regain the market share it has lost to MediaTek.Spreadtrum was originally set to release its 3-mode LTE smartphone AP products in April, but the China government's policy change requiring five-mode support is expected to dampen Spreadtrum's shipments in the second half of the year.In the second half, Spreadtrum will release its baseband-integrated tablet APs to increase its presence in the market, but with MediaTek already dominating the market and Qualcomm aggressively trying to make forays into the segment, the China-based maker will be unlikely to have any advantage in terms of product specifications or prices.Enty-level smartphones and tablets are starting to adopt quad-core APs, but Spreadtrum's quad-core APs and solutions are immature. Its clients have started turning to MediaTek's solutions for their devices, which means Spreatrum will have a difficult year.

Sony president and CEO Kazuo Hirai in early 2014 unveiled the Life Space UX project, featuring the company's latest 4K ultra short throw projector, which adopts Sony's SXRD LCoS technology to allow projection of up to 147-inch 4K-resolution images in a very short distance. The projector will become available in the US in summer 2014, priced at around US$30,000-40,000.Meanwhile, Sony also announced to spin off its TV business into a subsidiary by July. In the future, the subsidiary will mainly target Ultra HD display products and is aiming to turn profits by March 2015.Digitimes Research believes Ultra HD products will become a major profit contributor of Sony in the future because of their high gross margins. Sony has the technologies and manufacturing abilities to produce LCoS and HTPS projectors and components.Because of LCoS' advantages in high-definition projection and the fact that it is the only display component that is fully controlled by Sony in terms of technology and production, Digitimes Research expects the SXRD to become the key development focus of Sony's Life Space UX project in the future.

In addition to the smart mobile device markets, Apple and Google have also been expanding their presence in other industries such as automobile electronics.Google announced the establishment of Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014, while Apple unveiled its CarPlay technology during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014.However, both players are still new to the car-use computer, telematics and infotainment industries and may take a while before they can see meaningful growth in these sectors, Digitimes Research believes.

Average pricing for entry-level LCD TVs sized 32-inch reached US$361 in March 2014, down US$2 on month but up 3% on year, according to Digitimes Research.In terms of entry-level TVs sized 40- to 43-inch, pricing went up from US$528 in February to US$563 in March while 46- to 49-inch units rose from US$768 to US$791.Meanwhile, 50-inch units at large have dropped on average from US$872 to US$833 on month in March while 60-inch units from Samsung and Sharp have risen from US$937 to US$1,015, added Digitimes Research.

Digitimes Research has learned that Google is set to release at least two Nexus tablets in 2014 with an 8.9-inch model already under development and set to enter mass production in July. The 8.9-inch tablet features a display resolution of more than 2K.Although Google may still release a smaller-size model in 2014, its strategy of skipping most of the sizes in the 8-inch range and going for an 8.9-inch display - a size that colud be categorized as large-size tablet (9-inch and above) - shows that the Internet giant is starting to shift its focus to large-size tablet applications.In 2013, Android had an over 50% share in the small-to medium-size brand tablet market and is expected to achieve further growth in 2014 as brand vendors turn to push 8-inch tablets. The 7-inch segment will continue to see shipment growth thanks to strong demand for models with phone functions, Digitimes Research believes.However, in the large-size brand tablet market, Android only accounted for around 30% in 2013 and its shipments amounted to only half of those of iPads. Windows also trailed behind with around 10% market share.Because of Google's disadvantages in the large-size brand tablet market, Digitimes Research believes the release of the 8.9-inch Nexus - a product with a good price/performance ratio, sufficient mobility, and a strategic position between the large-size and small- to medium-size segments - may motivate the rest of Android camp to also skip the 8-inch segment and head for the large-size segment.More importantly, whether the Android camp is able to create new added values for the large-size tablet market and in turn boost the overall market, will heavily depend on Google's ability to enhance Android tablet-only applications and attract more application developers to join the ecosystem.Digitimes Research believes if the 8.9-inch Nexus can be priced at around US$299 and if Android 5.0, which may be released at the Google I/O in June, is able to feature more Android tablet-only applications, it should help the 8.9-inch Nexus tablet achieve a breakthrough in the large-size tablet market.

In addition to its existing Xfinity Triple-Play services, US-based Comcast has recently announced it will cooperate with US-based NRG Energy to offer electricity services. The move is expected to add an additional service to Comcast's packages and help bring in more revenues to the company.Comcast has also announced it will acquire the second-largest cable TV company in the US, Time Warner Cable and if acquired, Comcast will be able to take a 30% share in the US' paid-TV market, strengthening its competitiveness against its telecom carrier and satellite TV competitors. The acquisition news also helped Comcast's negotiation with Netflix, which Netflix agreed to pay Comcast for better streaming.Digitimes Research believes Comcast is planning to use its economies of scale to push into the digital home market. The digital home market used to focus on multimedia entertainment contents, but now the market has turned to focus on new applications such as energy management driven by Google's acquired Nest, home security management and telecare. Comcast's Xfinity Home is a service that combines the energy and security management and the company's entry into the electricity industry will allow it to become a more complete supplier of digital home solutions.