Apple and China-based smartphone vendors are expected to compete fiercely to ramp up their market share in India, China and other emerging markets in 2018 before the advent of the 5G era, according to sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain.

Smartphone-use lens module maker Largan Precision is developing 7P (seven plastic lens pieces) lens modules and is likely to begin large-volume shipments in 2019, according to company CEO Lin En-ping.

Computex, which had been gradually losing its luster along with the rise of e-commerce and the slowdown of the PC industry in recent years, seems to start showing signs of revival during its 2018 edition, mainly driven by AI (artificial intelligence) and gaming applications, which stole the spotlights...

Taiwan-based metal chassis maker Catcher Technology will see its revenues surge quarter by quarter in 2018, and its capacity utilization rate will pick up significantly in the third quarter before peaking at 100% in the fourth quarter to fulfill robust orders, with revenue ratios estimated at 33:67...

HiSilicon Technologies, a Huawei smartphone solution subsidiary, is reportedly to launch its new mid-tier solution, the Kirin 710, in July and, as suggested by its product name, is to take directly on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 710, according to industry sources.

MediaTek has reported consolidated revenues of NT$20.41 billion (US$684.2 million) for May 2018, up 7.3% sequentially and 10.7% on year.

Optical lens maker Kinko Optical will sell its 100% stake in Kin Hua Optics, its subsidiary maker of glass lens pieces and lens modules used in digital cameras in Suzhou, eastern China, for CNY75 million (US$11.7 million), according to the company.

Optical transceiver module maker PCL Technologies saw its consolidated revenues rise 10.18% on month and 25.48% on year to NT$181 million (US$6.07 million) in May, buoyed by increased shipments of 32G transceiver modules.

Touch panel makers General Interface Solution (GIS) and TPK Holding have reported mixed revenues for May with the former seeing its sales trending upward on renewal orders of existing products, and the latter posting decreased sales due to seasonality.

MediaTek is expected to introduce an enhanced version of its Helio P60 SoC designed for midrange smartphones that come with artificial intelligence (AI) features in the second half of 2018, according to industry sources.

Merry Electronics has reported consolidated revenues of NT$2.275 billion (US$76.526 million) for May, up 22.6% on month and 22.9% on year. For the first five months of 2018, revenues totaled NT$8.48 billion, increasing 6.2% from a year earlier.

Smartphone-use lens module maker Largan Precision has reported consolidated revenues of NT$4.319 billion (US$144 million) for May, the highest monthly level so far in 2018 with growth of 24.57% sequentially and 14.69% on year.

MediaTek has newly released its 5G modem chipset solution, the Helio M70, to be fabricated using TSMC's 7nm process incorporating EUV technology, and will kick off official shipments in 2019 in a bid to secure a preemptive presence in the 5G market, according to a company announcement issued June 5.

As a leading network equipment and solutions provider in Taiwan, Alpha Networks will be focusing on mobile communications and cloud RAN (radio access network) at the core of its operations to capitalize on potential opportunities in the 5G and IoV (Internet of Vehicles) application sectors, according...

At Computex, Qualcomm has announced at a joint effort with Samsung Electronics to integrate its Snapdragon 850 Mobile Compute Platform, featuring the Snapdragon X20 and Qualcomm AI Engine in a future device.

Arm China will be dedicated to developing products exclusively for the China market, and plans for an IPO on the local stock exchange, according to Rene Haas, president of Arm's IP products group.

Computex has added two new themes to the 2018 edition in response to some of the hottest trends in the tech industry: 5G and blockchain - along with the mainstays that have been featured at the largest IT tradeshow in Asia.

Flexible PCB and handset chassis maker Ichia Technologies has reported revenues of NT$637 million (US$21.39 million) for May, up 10% on month and 6% on year.

Arm has introduced its Cortex-A76 CPU, a new microarchitecture enabling 35% more performance and 40% less power, and the ARM Mali-G76 GPU and Mali-V76 VPU to deliver "laptop-class performance" for mobile devices including smartphones and Arm-based Windows notebooks.

Prices of flat panels for handset applications are likely to move upward in the third quarter of 2018 due to a surge in demand from smartphone vendors, notably Apple, according to industry sources.

The global smartphone applications processor (AP) market declined 5% on year to US$20.2 billion in 2017, while the tablet AP market grew 3% to US$2 billion, according to Strategy Analytics.

Taiwan-based Taiflex Scientific, which supplies flexible copper clad laminates (FCCL), expects the flexible PCB (FPCB) market to continue growing.

Qualcomm's recently-introduced Snapdragon 710 mobile chip, manufactured using Samsung's 10nm LPP process technology, will be rivaling MediaTek's Helio P60 series chip built using TSMC's 12nm process technology in the mid- and high-end smartphone market segment.

Many new opportunities and challenges are emerging for the global electronics industries amid the trade spats between the US and China, and it is important that Taiwan's electronics industry - long one of the most important supply chains for the two major economies - can maneuver around in pursuit...

Huawei is teaming up with BOE Technology to develop foldable smartphones, aiming to beat Samsung Electronics to the new smartphone segment, according to a Korea-based ET News report.