Smartphone shipments are expected to reach 322 million in the third quarter of 2014, up 13% on quarter, and see flat shipment growth on year in the fourth quarter, while overall shipments in 2014 will reach 1.2 billion, up 29.2% on year, according to market intelligence firm TrendForce. Growth will be driven primarily by the release of the new iPhone and new units launched from Chinese vendors.
Despite Apple’s plans of launching the new generation of iPhone in late 2014, optical demands in handheld devices failed to generate price upticks in the sapphire substrate industry, according to LEDinside.
The global smartphone market is slowing down and entering a mature period where growth will be limited. Mature markets such as Europe and North America in particular are expected to see smartphone growth in the single digits. Amid an increasingly competitive smartphone market in China growth is expected to be more noticeable, vendors such as Xiaomi, Huawei and Lenovo have nevertheless gained a strong market share in the lower-priced smartphone segment.
Chromebook shipments reached 1.8 million in the second quarter of 2014, and Acer held the number one spot in shipments with a 30% market, surpassing Samsung Electronics for the first time, according to WitsView, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based TrendForce.
Global shipments of large-size panels reached 71.78 million in June 2014, up 3.4% on month. TV panel shipments reached 20.95 million, up 0.6% on month, while LCD monitor panels slipped 1.4% to 13.48 million largely as increased demand for TV products pushed down demand for monitors. Notebook panel shipments meanwhile reached 16.29 million, down 3% on month, and tablet panel shipments reached 21.05 million, up 16.2% on month, according to WitsView, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based market intelligence firm TrendForce.
