Apple Pay is set to arrive in Taiwan this year, making the island the 14th market in its global expansion. Kelly Hsieh, senior research manager of TrendForce, stated that that iPhone devices currently has nearly a third of the smartphone market share in Taiwan, and this will help Apple Pay tremendously in penetrating into the local market. “Apple Pay can become a leading mobile payment platform that will gradually change the payment habit of Taiwanese consumers if it is able to win over consumers by providing strong data security and a very positive user experience,” said Hsieh.
The markets for key components used in smartphones have experienced rising prices since the second half of 2016 because of tightening supply. TrendForce’s latest analyses indicate that prices of mobile DRAM, mobile NAND Flash products and AMOLED panels will continue to climb through 2017. As smartphone brands will be raising hardware specifications of their products, they are also revealing their intentions to build up their inventories in advance. High prices of AMOLED panels and memory components during this entire year will constrain smartphone makers’ ability to attain greater profits.
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.
Market research firm TrendForce reports annual tablet shipments worldwide posted a decline for 2016, dropping 6.6% to 157.4 million units. However, total shipments from branded tablet vendors surpassed expectations because of the robust year-end holiday sales.
Global shipments of LCD TV sets for 2016 increased 1.6% annually to reach 219.2 million units, according to WitsView, a division of TrendForce. Shipment growth was attributed to the strong sales in North America’s distribution channels during the busy season, the increasing affordability of large-size TVs and the robust housing market in China. The top five TV brands by shipments in order are Samsung, LG Electronics (LGE), Hisense, TCL and Sony.