The tablet market has undergone four consecutive years of downward correction from 2014 to 2017 and is showing signs of bottoming out. Latest analysis from TrendForce estimates that the global tablet shipments for 2017 will total around 148.9 million units, registering a more moderate drop of 5.4% compared with the 2016 result. Looking ahead to 2018, major tablet brands are expected to see their shipment declines ease. At the same time, Amazon, Huawei and other relatively new market entrants will continue in their rise. In sum, global shipments are projected to recover next year, rising by 0.3% annually to around 149.3 million units.
As 2017 comes to an end, global market intelligence provider TrendForce has unveiled a list of top 10 trends in the information and communication technology sector for 2018. These trends will be influencing the development of key industries in the upcoming year.
WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports that the global shipments of branded TV sets for the third quarter of 2017 totaled 54.99 million units, showing an increase of 16% from the second quarter and a year-on-year decline of 4.0%. The third quarter is traditionally a busy period for TV shipments. Furthermore, the recent drop in panel prices is gradually taking away the cost pressure on TV brands, bolstering their confidence in expanding their shipments. WitsView expects the TV market to remain positive through the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the strong results in the second half of this year are unlikely going to offset three consecutive quarters of year-on-year declines. WitsView therefore has lowered its estimate of this year’s annual global shipments to 210 million units, down 4.2% from the previous year.
Themed as “development trends and opportunities of components industry” and “outlook on industrial innovation and application trends,” the IT Industry Forecast for 2018 was held by TrendForce, a global provider of market intelligence on technology industries, at the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai on October 26, 2017. The event was attended by 500 professionals ranging from talents of such high-tech industries as semiconductor, artificial intelligence (AI) and network communications to representatives of financial institutions and mainstream media. The symposium was kicked off by an opening speech delivered by Dr. C. L. Liu, president of TrendForce. Also, Dr. Yan Xiaolang, vice chairman of China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) and head of professionals group on the construction of demonstration microelectronics college in China, participated in the conference and shared his insights on the global technology industries.
Total global LED chip production capacity has entered a new peak expansionary phase in 2017, according to the latest LED market supply and demand analysis by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. This recent surge of capacity expansion for LED chips has been a response to the rising demand from Chinese LED package suppliers that had started raising their production capacities earlier in 2016.