According to Digitimes Research's findings, Qualcomm's development in the high-end market is not stable in 2015 and facing MediaTek and Spreadtrum's fierce competition in the mid-range and entry-level segments, the chip supplier's shipment performance in China has been weakening, causing some of its application processors (APs) to see inventory buildup

Taiwan-based ODMs shipped an estimated 31.302 million notebooks (not including detachable hybrid models) during the second quarter of 2015, accounting for 81.7% of the global total and increasing 6.6% on quarter but decreasing 10.1% on year, according to Digitimes Research

With China handset brand vendors starting to launch flagship products with fingerprint sensors in the second half of 2014, touch controller IC players who have seen thinning profitability have been aggressively developing fingerprint sensor solutions

Observing the Intel mobile platform's development in the non-Android tablet market, Digitimes Research expects Windows tablets to replace Android tablets and become Intel's new focus. Intel's Education Tablet, which achieved success in the education sector in 2014, is also expected to benefit the CPU giant's mobile processor shipments in 2015

Average retail price for 7W LED light bulbs (equivalent to 40W incandescent ones) in the China market decreased 12.1% sequentially to CNY34.3 (US$5.6) in June, while 9W models (equivalent to 60W incandescent ones) also saw a decline by 14.5% to CNY33.7, according to Digitimes Research

While visiting Southern China's white-box tablet supply chain, Digitimes Research discovered that shipments of white-box tablets with phone functionality saw their first on-year drop in the second quarter. This is because their major markets have experienced weak economy and competition is also growing from China-based smartphone brand vendors who have been expanding in overseas markets

In an effort to secure flexible display orders from China-based wearables vendors, China's panel makers are increasing investments in AMOLED and PMOLED technologies, with aim of increasing production and securing more market share in early 2017, according to Digitimes Research

China's smartphone industry in the second quarter did not see growth as strong as Digitimes Research had anticipated previously and it grew only slightly more than 15% sequentially and by a single-digit percentage on year

Japan's home entertainment segment saw several developments in the second quarter of 2015. Sharp introduced a mix of new Ultra HD (4K) TVs, including Aquos 4K Next that can upscale to 8K resolution, according to Digitimes Research

Despite Taiwan makers lagging behind Korea and Japan in TFT LCD and AMOLED panel technologies, the makers have advantages for producing PMOLED and EPD products used in wearable devices

An international LED forum held in Taiwan in mid-June showed that makers have extended development and production from general lighting to IR (infrared), UV (ultraviolet) chips, and high-end automotive lighting, according to Digitimes Research

Despite the fact that the design is complete and the chip is ready for mass production, Intel's 28nm SoFIA 4G application processor (AP) is still unlikely to be launched until the beginning of 2016 due to the adjustments over the software part that is still not yet mature. For 2015, Intel will still need to rely on its SoFIA 3G/3G-R APs to prop up is mobile device AP business and may miss the business opportunities from the 4G market, which is expected to grow rapidly in the second half of this year