Digitimes Research estimates that the global LTE market doubled in size to 445 million users in 2014 and we further forecast that annual growth in the number of LTE users will remain above 70% between 2015-2016, with the overall market reaching 1.466 billion users by 2016, representing 70% of the total number of global mobile broadband (including 3G+4G) users. Driving that growth is the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, and the region will surpass North America to become the world's largest consumer LTE market in the first half of 2015.

Digitimes Research forecasts that in 2015, the global high-brightness (HB) LED industry will have annual growth of 7.5% in terms of output, reaching US$13.7 billion. The total number of LEDs used will reach 186 billion units, representing annual growth of 32.6%, out of which lighting applications will have the highest annual growth rate in terms of usage, reaching 65%. This Digitimes Research Special Report analyzes the various applications, technologies and market trends that will drive demand in 2015.

Smartphone shipments from Taiwan's brand vendors and manufacturers broke the 20-million mark in the fourth quarter of 2014, buoyed by strong demand from the end market and OEM clients.

Taiwan makers saw an on-year rise in DSC shipments during the fourth quarter of 2014, as driver IC shortages that had hampered their shipments in the previous quarter eased. But shipments for the entire 2014 continued to fall, and the trend of decline does not show any sign of stopping in 2015.

Digitimes Research estimates that total 2014 AP shipments will reach 1.52 billion units worldwide, up 19.6% from 2013, and in 2015 the global market will see shipments of 1.65 billion units, growing 8.5% on year. The slowdown is mainly due to a shrinking tablet market. Qualcomm is still expected to lead the market with MediaTek closely trailing thanks to its mature 4G solutions. Intel, assisted by Rockchip and Spreadtrum, will show significant growth in 2015 with global shipments.

The notebook market saw significant demand for entry-level devices whose pricing levels were comparable to those of tablets in the fourth quarter of 2014, which maintained Taiwan ODMs' overall shipments at a level comparable to that of the previous quarter. But the on-year drop in shipments is a clear indication of the notebook market's persisting woes.

According to Digitimes Research, global notebook shipments will decline by 2.7% in 2014 to 170 million units and shipment totals in 2015 will continue to show a decline. While the business notebook market benefited from the expiration of support by Microsoft for Windows XP early in 2014, this trend will not maintain momentum into 2015.

Taiwan's top handset ODM Foxconn Electronics lost a significant amount of feature phone orders from Microsoft Mobile in the third quarter, while the biggest brand vendor HTC also saw a sharp decline in its shipments. But for others in Taiwan's handset sector, the third quarter was a quarter of growth.

As of 2013, the 10 ASEAN nations had a total of over 700 million mobile subscriptions, with the CAGR from 2003-2013 reaching 24%, and the share of the global user base rising from 4.9% to a high of 10.6%. This Digitimes Research Special Report analyzes the various mobile broadband markets in ASEAN and looks at the respective trends in 4G LTE development for those markets.

The global digital still camera (DSC) market continued to decline in the third quarter of 2014, a trend reflected by Taiwan makers' significant on-year shipment drops. Worldwide DSC shipments are expected to drop almost 30% in 2014.

US notebook brand vendors' stronger-than-expected sales fueled their Taiwan-based ODM partners' shipment growth in the third quarter. In general, the enterprise segment saw better shipment momentum than the consumer segment, as Microsoft's termination of support for Windows XP continued to prompt companies to replace their PCs.

HTC's launch of its new smartphone models shot up both its own shipments and the overall shipments from Taiwan's handset sector in the second quarter. Although own-brand shipments were strong, ODM shipments were sluggish.