While the mobile network infrastructure in most countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has reached above the global average, the 4G LTE mobile user market in the region, with the exception of Singapore, has been growing relatively slowly. Meanwhile, mobile Internet has served as a growth driver pushing the development of Internet networks in the region, and the use of community applications has played a key role to push up the demand for mobile applications

Though slightly lagging behind in R&D and application of AI (artificial intelligence) technology as compared with the US and some countries in Europe, Japan has a strong AI focus on interpretation of medical images for diagnosis and therapy, according to Digitimes Research

As some telecom operators are looking for accelerated implementation of commercial 5G networks, there emerges a choice of "non-independent" and "independent" networks in the course in which the communication networks are transforming from 4G LTE to 5G, according to Digitimes Research. Meanwhile, in responding to the multiple application scenarios and extreme performance requirements under the new networks, the architecture and functionality of the 5G networks have been evolving toward the cloud alongside virtualization and network slicing

Mini LEDs, with much higher yield rates than those for Micro LEDs, are expected to come into commercial production next year, with initial application expected to be backlighting of LCD automotive displays, according to Digitimes Research

While today's mobile devices use either UFS (Universal Flash Storage) or eMMC (embedded multi-media card)-based NAND flash solutions to store information, eMMC5.1 chips are becoming progressively unable to meet the data transmission speed demands of high-end mobile devices, according to Digitimes Research

Panel makers have been aggressively making investments in 10.5G or 11G LCD production lines anticipating that demand for 65-inch and above applications and 8K displays will surge beginning 2020

As dual-lens cameras are being increasingly adopted in high-end smartphones, the proportion of smartphones with dual-lens cameras is expected to rise from 16% in 2017 to 30% in 2018 and possibly to 50% in 2019, according to Digitimes Research

At LED Expo held in Taipei last month, Taiwan-based LED and laser diode makers demonstrated a strong focus on automotive applications

June 2017 average retail pricing for 7W LED light bulbs (equivalent to 40W incandescents) in the China market increased 13.6% from April 2017 to CNY26.7 (US$3.9), while 9W models (equivalent to 60W incandescents) rose 1.6% to CNY32.2, according to Digitimes Research

The global VR/AR campaigns that began in 2016 continued into the recently concluded Computex 2017, highlighted by a slew of VR devices for high-end business applications, VR backpacks wirth wireless connections, and also AR-enabled smartphones targeting the consumer market, according to Digitimes Research

The Japan government, in line with the goal of realizing autonomous driving in Japan before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, is promoting development and production of high-precision 3D digital navigation maps through directing establishment of Dynamic Map Planning (DMP), a company specifically for the purpose, in June 2016, according to Digitimes Research

For the three main technologies - OLED, OLEDoS (OLED on CMOS) and Micro LED - applied currently for the development of display products for use in head-mounted display (HMD) virtual reality devices, OLEDoS is superior than the other two technologies in terms of resolution accuracy and accountability for mass production as OLEDoS panels use silicon wafers as backplanes, which can reach a better degree of miniaturization, although its material costs still need to be improved, according to Digitimes Research