AR and VR continue to grab attention worldwide and their uses have expanded into tourism, work, warehousing operations and drones, reports TrendForce from CES 2017. The related demonstrations and announcements made at this year’s event have shown that the AR/VR industry as a whole is shifting its focus from hardware development to expanding applications. TrendForce forecasts that the annual global shipments of VR devices will reach 5.1 million units in 2017 and grow to 8.5 million in 2018. Note that the projected figures exclude mobile VR products.
Mobile payment services have expanded significantly during 2016 as smartphone makers intensify their efforts to build their own payment ecosystems. At the same time, innovations and diversification in mobile payment methods have generated new demand and opportunities worldwide. According to market research firm TrendForce, the scale of the global mobile payment market will reach US$780 billion by the end of 2017, amounting to an annual increase of 25.8%.
TrendForce’s latest market survey finds that VR devices will enjoy strong sales this Christmas season on account that game consoles are also going to be popular gift purchases. Based on TrendForce’s latest analysis, annual shipments of VR devices worldwide (excluding mobile VR device) are projected to reach 2.91 million units for 2016 and grow massively by 75% to 5.1 million units for 2017. In terms of ranking of brands by shipments, Sony is expected to take first place this year, followed by Oculus in second and HTC in third.
Shipments of LCD TV sets worldwide for 2016 are estimated to grow by 1.9% annually to around 220 million units, according to the latest analysis by WitsView, a division of TrendForce. At the start of 2017, the U.S. consumer market will be bumpy in the short term due to the results of the country’s presidential election. If the U.S. Federal Reserve decides to raise the key interest rates next year, domestic consumer spending will recover and the country will again play a major role in sustaining global TV sales. WitsView forecasts that global TV shipments for 2017 will reach 225 million units, up 2.5% compared with the prior year.
Client-grade SSDs of mainstream capacities for the PC-OEM market are expected to witness the largest sequential increase in average contract price in almost a year for the fourth quarter of 2016, according to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Set against the third quarter, the average contract prices in the PC-OEM market for mainstream client-grade SSDs using MLC NAND Flash are estimated to rise by 6~10%. The average prices of mainstream client-grade SSDs carrying TLC NAND Flash are expected rise by 6~9% sequentially in the fourth-quarter PC-OEM market.