The global supply of 2D-NAND Flash will remain tight going into the second quarter of 2017, according to the latest analysis from DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Also, major smartphone brands will soon begin their first wave of new product release for the year after the Mobile World Congress in Spain. With the NAND Flash supply still under strain, DRAMeXchange forecasts that contract prices of both SSDs and eMMCs will see a more moderate sequential price hike of 5~10% in the second quarter.
The next major iPhone release will certainly be one of the most anticipated events in the global consumer electronics market in the second half of 2017. TrendForce’s recent findings on the 10th anniversary iPhone release reveal that Apple’s latest refresh of the device series will include three new models, with one of them having significant hardware and design upgrades such as an AMOLED display.
Entering 2017, the global DRAM market continues to witness demand outpacing supply. The latest research by DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, projects that contract prices of server DRAM modules will increase by almost 40% sequentially on average this first quarter. The contract market for server DRAM modules is expected to see another sequential price hike of 10% in the second quarter. By that time, the global average sales price (ASP) of DDR4 16GB server DRAM may reach the threshold of US$130.
Smartphone shipments remained strong in the final quarter of 2016. The market withdrawal of Samsung flagship Galaxy Note 7 turned consumer demand towards devices from other brands such as Apple, Huawei and LG. Thus, prices of mobile DRAM continued to surge during the period on account of the worsening undersupply situation. The latest research from DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, finds that the global mobile DRAM revenue for the fourth quarter increased by about 20% sequentially to reach around US$5.51 billion.
Peak season demand and surging prices for DRAM products across different applications resulted in an 18.2% sequential growth in the global DRAM revenue for the final quarter of 2016, reports DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce.