According to a news report from Economy Daily News, Taiwanese IC design company MediaTek is benefiting from a rebound of the smartphone market, with shipments of its Dimensity series 5G smartphone chips gaining momentum. Simultaneously, there is positive news of a potential surge in the demand for WiFi products next year.

MediaTek has secured major contracts for WiFi 7 with leading global tablet brands, Intel’s laptop platforms, and various prominent smartphone manufacturers, breaking Broadcom’s long-standing dominance in the WiFi chip market.

Industry sources suggest that MediaTek is expected to further expand its reach next year by securing orders from Chinese smartphone brands, Intel’s laptop platforms, and the primary WiFi 7 chip orders from the leading global tablet brand from the US.

With shipment momentum entering a quarterly ascending stage, MediaTek is poised to break the past trend of Broadcom’s long-term dominance in the WiFi chip market. Additionally, MediaTek is gaining ground on its competitor Qualcomm, positioning itself as one of the top three global suppliers in the WiFi chip market.

MediaTek has refrained from commenting on customer specifics and order status. However, market expectations are high for a significant boom in WiFi 7 opportunities next year, and MediaTek is anticipated to benefit from this surge.

According to industry analysis, WiFi 7 boasts faster transmission speeds and additional frequency bands. Its theoretical speed is 4.8 times faster than the preceding WiFi 6 standard and 13 times faster than WiFi 5. The industry widely anticipates WiFi 7 to become the mainstream network transmission standard next year.

In the current PC market scenario, major PC suppliers such as Intel and AMD are almost certain to extensively support WiFi 7 next year. In the smartphone market, there are reports that Apple and Samsung are expected to incorporate WiFi 7 specifications in their new models next year, further propelling the explosion of WiFi 7 opportunities in the coming year.

In the past, MediaTek made relatively slow progress in the WiFi market, but it accelerated its efforts upon entering the WiFi 6 era. With ambitions to outpace competitors in WiFi 7, MediaTek reportedly expanded its R&D team, deploying a thousand personnel to delve into the WiFi 7 market.

In early 2022, MediaTek took an early lead by launching its WiFi 7 product line, entering the ‘design-in’ phase with clients. In the second quarter of 2023, reports suggest MediaTek is gradually making inroads into the high-end router and enterprise-related applications. These recent developments indicate positive strides for the company.

Industry analysts have emphasized that WiFi has become an essential network feature in current terminal devices. However, due to the need for integration supporting multiple frequency band specifications in network chips like WiFi and Bluetooth, the crucial point in verifying product usability lies in complying with frequency bands specified by various countries.

Since different countries use different frequency bands, a significant amount of manpower is required in the testing and verification stages. The development challenges associated with these chips are second only to modem chips.

Even Apple has reportedly delayed its in-house WiFi chip development due to a shortage of manpower. Instead, Apple has shifted its focus to procuring WiFi chips from other IC design companies. This opens up opportunities for Broadcom, Qualcomm, and MediaTek to secure significant orders for WiFi chips in Apple devices like iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks.

Reportedly, an insider has indicated that MediaTek’s WiFi 7 chips will be produced using TSMC’s 6nm process. It is anticipated that the wafer input for these chips will ramp up in the first half of 2024 as MediaTek will be gearing up to seize new opportunities in the latter half of that year when consumer devices will have widely adopted WiFi 7.

(Photo credit: MediaTek)

Apple’s iPhone is gaining even more popularity in India, with Tata Group, India’s conglomerate, reportedly preparing to build a new iPhone assembly plant. According to Bloomberg, this move aligns with Apple’s broader manufacturing strategy expansion in India.

Previously reported by TrendForce, Apple’s decision to opt for India is primarily due to the fact that since 2015, India has become the fastest-growing regional market for smartphones globally. Earlier in October this year, Tata Group officially acquired Wistron’s subsidiary in Bengaluru, primarily responsible for assembling orders for the iPhone 14. 

According to sources from Bloomberg, Tata Group is not only recruiting new staff for this facility but also planning to build the largest iPhone assembly plant in the town of Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India.

The new facility is expected to establish 20 assembly lines, planning to employ approximately 50,000 workers within the next 2 years. It is slated to be operational within 12 to 18 months. However, the existing government-supported PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) fiscal incentives will expire around the time of operation. Therefore, Apple and Tata Group may seek new subsidies from the government for the production of the new iPhones.

Apple has been actively expanding in India, and the new iPhone assembly plant is a crucial strategy for both companies. For Apple, it serves to diversify the supply chain risk by gradually shifting the assembly of iPhones from China to India. Meanwhile, Tata Group aims to expand its traditional business scope.

Read more

• Tata Group to Become the Fourth iPhone Assembler as Production Relocation Accelerates
• [Insights] Tata’s Challenge in Securing Large iPhobe Orders After Officially Acquiring Wistron’s India Factory

(Photo credit: Apple)

In the pursuit of a larger screen-to-body ratio, smartphones adopting a “bezel-less” design have become a trend. According to a report from the Korean media outlet “The Elec,” rumors in the market suggest that Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro, expected to be released in 2025, will achieve a “100% bezel-less” look, with supplier LG Innotek reportedly developing an under-display camera. This innovation could potentially become a major selling point for the new iPhone series.

LG Innotek, a major South Korean smartphone camera module manufacturer, is actively working on developing an Under-Panel Camera (UPC) in response to the specific requirements of its important customer, Apple.

The concept involves completely hiding the camera components beneath the screen, eliminating the need for a camera notch. This approach aims to offer a seamless, all-screen experience, and it is anticipated that iPhones featuring under-display cameras could be introduced within the next few years.

However, the report further indicated from its sources that, currently, Apple is more likely to adopt specifications for under-display Face ID rather than UPC.

The reason behind this lies in the fact that under-display cameras come with certain drawbacks. Since the camera is under the display panel, the light transmission of the cover glass can affect the entry of light into the image sensor. Poor resolution and the inability to support high-speed continuous shooting are common fatal flaws associated with under-display cameras.

Nevertheless, according to “The Elec”, in an attempt to overcome these drawbacks, LG Innotek is working on incorporating a free-curve prism under the display for UPC. This hardware enhancement aims to improve the light transmission of the camera under the screen, addressing the issues of low transparency and poor imaging quality.

However, an industry source has pointed out that it is currently uncertain when Apple will actually use the under-display cameras produced by LG Innotek. Reportedly, according to insiders, Apple is not entirely satisfied with the samples provided by LG Innotek.

As early as 2021, Apple’s competitor Samsung had already introduced the Z Fold 3 with an under-display camera design, but the image quality of the camera was significantly inferior to that of traditional punch-hole cameras.

(Photo credit: LG Innotek)

AMD announced the Ryzen 8040 series processor at the AMD Advance AI event. With TSMC’s advanced 4nm process, this new processor boasts up to a 1.6x improvement in AI processing performance compared to its predecessor.

From AMD’s press release, the Ryzen 8040 series introduces the Ryzen AI Network Processing Unit (NPU), featuring up to 8 Zen 4 CPU cores and an integrated GPU based on RDNA 3. Utilizing TSMC’s 4nm process, AMD claims that the Ryzen 8040 series NPU is approximately 1.4x faster than the NPU in the previous 7040 series and 1.8x faster than Intel’s high-end i9-13900H Processor.

AMD CEO, Lisa Su, stated that AMD is the first global entity to integrate an NPU into an x86 processor. The Ryzen 8040 series is already in supply and is set to be featured in new models from major players such as Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, and Lenovo starting early 2024.

In fact, the integration of NPUs into Windows PCs is not a new thing. Both AMD and Intel lag behind Qualcomm. Back in October 2022, Qualcomm had already revealed its collaboration with on the development of the Microsoft SQ3 processor, set to be used in the Surface Pro 9 5G tablet, reported by ANUE.

While AMD and Intel compete, Apple is also a formidable player in the AI field. Since the introduction of the A11 Bionic in 2017, Apple has been integrating the neural engine into its hardware to accelerate AI tasks, similar to the NPUs developed by AMD and Intel, aiding in facial recognition and photo processing.

(Image: AMD)

The latest panel price update from TrendForce in early December indicates that prices for TV, notebook, and monitor panels will all decline this month due to the continued weakening of end-user demand. Detailed analysis is as follows:

• TV Panel

Entering the fourth quarter, including promotions on Double Eleven and Black Friday, the results have been less than satisfactory. As a result, brands continue to revise down their demand for TV panels.

Panel manufacturers are responding to the declining demand by consistently reducing production, and the extent of production cuts continues to expand. This strategy aims to slow down the pace of price decline.

It is currently anticipated that the price decline for TV panels in December will slightly widen. Prices are expected to drop by USD 2 dollars for 32″ and 43″, USD 3 dollars for 50″ and 55″, and USD 4 dollars for 65″ and 75″.

• MNT Panel

As for monitor panels, demand has noticeably weakened since the fourth quarter. However, in the past few months, price declines have been observed only in high-end models.

Nevertheless, with some panel manufacturers leading the way by adopting a softer stance on mainstream panel prices, a downward trend in mainstream panel prices has emerged in December.

Currently, the expected decline for December is as follows: a decrease of USD 0.2 dollars for 23.8″ Open Cell panels, and a decrease of USD 0.1 dollars for 21.5″, 23.8″, and 27″.

• NB Panel

As for notebook panels, demand has similarly experienced a noticeable decline starting from the fourth quarter, with a trend of continuous downward revisions month by month.

Under the pressure of a sudden drop in demand, there is a growing noise demanding a decline in panel prices. In the past one or two months, panel manufacturers have mostly made concessions in higher-end specifications and 16:10 models to maintain the stability of mainstream 16:9 model prices.

However, it is expected that panel manufacturers may find it challenging to resist brand pressure this month, and the panel prices for mainstream FHD IPS models are anticipated to see a slight decrease of USD 0.1 dollar.

Read more

• [Insights] Late-November Price Update: Tug of War in Prices! Drop Anticipated in Large-sized High-end Monitor Panel