US-based crystal growth solution and equipment provider GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has announced that Apple will pre-pay US$578 million to secure sapphire supply. GTAT will be able to use the funds to set up additional sapphire production capacity which will produce enough sapphire to make 5-inch screen covers for 33.79-50.56 million iPhones a year, Digitimes Research estimated.US$578 million can be used to procure 1,930-2,890 sapphire growing furnaces for a monthly production of 5.28-7.90 million mm of 2-inch-equivalent sapphire ingots, Digitimes Research indicated. Such a volume of sapphire ingots could be used to make screen covers for 33.79-50.56 million 5-inch iPhones a year, accounting for 17.8-26.6% of the estimated 190 million iPhones to be shipped in 2014.

Global LED tube shipments are expected to reach 380 million units in 2014 to give the technology a 9.74% penetration rate in the market, according to Digitimes Research.The lamps are becoming more in demand than fluorescent units due to their energy saving features and are also expected to have luminous efficiency of 200lm/W in 2014, twice that of T8 and T5 fluorescent units.Most vendors plan to sell the LED tubes for about US$27 in 2014 to attract more customers, added Digitimes Research.

GTAT has signed a multi-year sapphire materials agreement with Apple. Possible impacts on the industry: 1. The fourth quarter is tradtionally the LED sector's low season, during which sapphire prices should come down. However, 2-inch sapphire pricing is expected to inch up during the fourth quaeter of this year to reach US$4-4.5, as the prospect of sapphire being used in portable devices looks good. 2. Applications include: smartphone, tablet home buttons, camera lens, and even covers for iWatch and smarphones. 3. Why GTAT? One of the reasons is the US government hopes companies can move their production back to the US and create job opportunities. Another reason: GTAT's ingot growing technology can produce sapphire for large-size screens. 4. To make sure Apple will use sapphire as covers for tis devices and not competiting technologies (such as Corning's Gorilla Glass), the contract signed between Apple and GTAT requires Apple pre-pay US$578 million for equipment purchase. 5. Digitimes Research believes the US$578 million, if it's going to be all spent on buying ingot growing furnaces, will be enough to buy 2,000 units, or even more. The furnaces are estimated at US$200,000 to US$300,000 per unit, rather than the usual market price of US$600,000 quoted by GTAT. 6. The number of furnances seems high. If GTAT's target is to produce large-size 200kg ingots, monthly output could reach 5 million mm of 2-inch equivalents (yield rates not taken into consideration). 7. But if the output is meant to mainly cater to Apple's 5-inch handset screens in 2015, with the phone shipments estimated at 250 million units, the sapphire ingot capacity will still be 50%b short of demand. 8. Impact on the supply chain: Apple usually has second sources for its component supply. That means, Apple may find sufficient sapphire supply from other suppliers. 9. Potential beneficiaries: Including furnace suppliers for GTAT, KY ingot growing technology providers, and South Korea-based STC, who uses VHGF technology. Click here to see GTAT's annoucement of the deal.

Taiwan-based makers will ship a total of 17.14 million handsets in the fourth quarter of 2013, increasing 3.3% sequentially and 17.1% on year, and 99.71% of them will be smartphones, growing 4% sequentially and 26.2% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Of the shipments, 86.6% will be WCDMA models, 13.3% CDMA 2000, and 0.1% GSM, Digitimes Research indicated.HTC will be the largest maker accounting for 32.09% of the shipments, followed by Chi Mei Communication Systems (26.84%), Arima Communications (17.50%), Compal Communications (14.59%) and Wistron (4.08%).

Tablet shipments from major brand vendors worldwide are expected to reach 42.15 million units in the fourth quarter, up 18.1% sequentially, but down 2.5% on year, as the market has started maturing.Apple's new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display are expected to boost the US-based vendor's market share back to around 50% in the fourth quarter with Samsung Electronics to remain in second place. Amazon will become the third largest vendor thanks to strong demand for its Kindle devices. Lenovo, Asustek Computer and Acer are expected to be number four to six respectively, with Google dropping to seventh due to weaker-than-expected second-generation Nexus 7 sales.Apple, Marvell, Intel and MediaTek will be the top-4 tablet application processor (AP) suppliers in the fourth quarter. Texas Instruments (TI) will rise to number five because of orders for Amazon's Kindle Fire HD.As for detachable 2-in-1 devices, Microsoft and Intel's subsidies as well as the releases of the Bay Trail platform and Windows 8.1 are expected to pump up shipments for related products.Digitimes Research's figures show that Taiwan makers' tablet shipments will reach 29.67 million units in the fourth quarter, up 31.9% sequentially, but down 18.1% on year. During the quarter, Compal Electronics' tablet shipments will surpass those from Quanta Computer, thanks to growth in orders for the Kindle Fire HD. Quanta at the same time will see orders for the second-generation Nexus 7 drop.

The global top-5 notebook brand vendors saw their combined shipments drop 18% on month in October, while the top-3 notebook ODMs together also saw an on-month shipment drop of 14%.But one of the top-five vendors, Asustek Computer, actually enjoyed a 30% sequential shipment growth in October following the release of new entry-level models.Another top-five player, Hewlett-Packard (HP), saw a sharp drop to less than two million units in October after a particularly strong September where educational procurement orders shot up its shipments to 3.5 million units.HP's significant shipment drop in October took its toll on its ODM partners Inventec and Quanta. However, Quanta managed to see only an about 10% shipment drop in October because of support from orders from Asustek and Apple.Among Taiwan's ODMs, Pegatron Technology saw the strongest on-month shipments growth in October at over 40% thanks to Asustek's orders.The market got a sneak peek of Lenovo's Androidbook in October, but as Android-based notebooks' market postion is still unclear, Digitimes Research expects such a device to have difficulties achieving good sales initially.Dell, which completed its privatization on October 29, is said to be considering strengthening its consumer product lines, according to rumors circulating in the supply chain. Dell reportedly will release more new products, aiming to boost its shipment volume.Since Dell did not perform well in the consume market in the past, Digitimes Research is skeptical whether such a move by Dell would achieve good results.

Taiwan-based makers shipped a total of 21.039 million LCD monitors in third-quarter 2013, decreasing 4.1% sequentially and 15.8% on year to take a global market share of 61.4%, according to Digitimes Research.Of the shipments, 78.2% were shipped on an OEM/ODM basis, and 21.8% own-brand models, Digitimes Research indicated.TPV Technology was the largest maker accounting for 57.67% of the shipments, Qisda 16.94%, Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) 13.34%, Wistron 10.39% and Compal Electronics 1.25%.

Taiwan-based makers will ship a total of 365.985 million small- to medium-size TFT-LCD panels in the fourth quarter of 2013, a decrease of 3.2% on quarter and 0.5% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Of the panels, 85.5% will be made based on a-Si process and 14.5% on LTPS technology, Digitimes Research indicated.In terms of application of panels, handset will account for 78.32% of the shipments, tablets 6.55%, digital cameras 4.71% and automotive displays 2.52%.Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) will be the largest producer accounting for 31.19% of the shipments, followed by Innolux with 24.35%, HannStar Display with 23.94% and AU Optronics (AUO) with 20.52%.

Taiwan-based Innolux, AU Optronics (AUO), Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and HannStar Display will ship a total of 62.086 million large-size TFT-LCD panels in the fourth quarter of 2013, slipping by 3.8% on quarter and by 7.6% on year, according to Digitimes Research.In terms of applications, TV panels will account for 28.64% of the shipments, notebook panels 34.89%, monitor panels 29.65%, and 9-inch and larger tablet panels 5.19%, Digitimes Research indicated.Innolux will ship 10.106 million TV panels, 10.849 million monitor panels and 10.678 million panels used in notebooks and 9-inch and larger tablets, while AUO will respectively ship 7.678 million, 7.289 million and 12.442 million units. HanStar and CPT will ship 1.31 million and 450,000 panels used in notebooks and above 9-inch tablets respectively.

Taiwan-based makers will ship 44.621 million smartphone touch panels, 15.517 million touch panels used in below 11-inch tablets and 3.728 million touch panels used in notebooks and 11-inch and above tablets during the fourth quarter of 2013, decreasing on quarter by 5.3%, 10.0% and 7.4% respectively, according to Digitimes Research. Of the smartphone touch panel shipments, 63.44% will be film-based capacitive models, 22.29% OGS (one glass solution) models and 14.27% GG (two sheets of glass) models, Digitimes Research indicated. Young Fast Optoelectronics will be the largest maker accounting for 22.88% of the shipments, J Touch 19.02%, Wintek 17.04%, General Interface Solution 15.75% and TPK Holding 14.79%. GG models will take up 38.54% of shipments of touch panels used in below 11-inch tablets, OGS 29.36%, film-based capacitive 28.45% and G1F (glass plus one layer of film) 3.65%. J Touch will account for 17.27% of the shipments, General Interface Solution 16.45%, TPK 16.41% and Wintek 14.86%. TPK will account for 26.29% of shipments of touch panels used in notebooks and 11-inch and above tablets, followed by AU Optronics (AUO) with 22.83%, Innolux with 19.66% and Wintek with 16.98%.